


Gumshoe: Glory for Justice

by HeavensChocolate



Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crimes & Criminals, Detective Noir, Detectives, Murder Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-09-25 01:48:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 30,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20368627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeavensChocolate/pseuds/HeavensChocolate
Summary: "Brockton Bay, a city of crime and violence. To fix this city or even come close to heal it, you would need to do more than tattletaling the evil of this city. A gruff, annoyingly persistent Cape would be needed to bring the truth to bear. A like gum sticking to your shoe, not letti--!""What are you doing?""...writing my memoirs.""Well let's get going. We got some evidence to find."





	1. Chapter 1

_December 14, 2010. 10:26 PM, The Trainyard_

"Why do you have to do this?"

Lisa stared at Grue with a grin.

"Because you make it so easy."

He glowered at her, his black skull helmet tilting down as his dark power began to pour out of him. "We've worked together, we've helped each other out when the tough gets going. And we both know that what you're doing now is stupid."

_Stance tense, knees bent, hands clenched_

"You know you're making this tough for yourself, right? By tomorrow morning you're going to be moaning and bitching when the Undersiders lose a little bit more of reputation."

_Neck bulge, 1-inch, agitation, irritation, bruised ego_

"I didn't think you'd care."

"Of course I care—!" There was a loud rumble and howling, and the apartment room window cracked as another crash impacted the building. "You know that Bitch's dogs are just adorable."

_Producing more black smoke, human shape, clones, distraction tactic_

"Do you really have to do this?"

"Yup."

"All for a USB? You know that it's over, right? No matter what you do, it won't save that guy. We live in a highly corrupt society, where all they want is to tie us down and enforce their fucked up desires on people right?"

"Trying to buy time with me isn't exactly one of your smartest tactics."

_Power generation at max, holding it back, preparing to unleash, waiting for my answer_

_Agitated, nervous, doesn't like the small apartment_

_Old structure, walls decayed, mold beneath, still sturdy, will hurt if thrown or crashed against _

"I can't negotiate not to screw this up?"

"You can, the problem is whether I'll listen. You know how it is." Another crash and as Lisa felt the floor dip slightly, her grin turned to a smirk.

_Apartment building old, decrepit, set for demolishing, ten years ago, lack of funds, employees, stopped operation_

_Building used by gangs, drug trafficking, sex parties, cape fights, structural damage _

_Floor is uneven, fight outside made it more unstable, cracked spot, 2 meters, by the left of Grue_

_Will collapse, high pressure needed, I weigh 122 pounds, Grue weighs 175_

_More than enough_

"You know you can't win, Gumshoe."

"Grue, the one who calls out the obvious and makes others feel like idiots is me, not you."

_Powers flaring, darkness surrounding Grue, will encroach room, 2 seconds—_

Lisa slammed her powers off, not needing them now as her vision became nothing but complete blackness. She clicked her tongue, but kept her confident and smarmy smile. _Can't show weakness, not to macho-man Randy Grue over there._

Bending her knees, she lunged forward. This was the best tactic against Grue — running away from him was impossible in a close and small room. He was stronger, more agile, and faster. Even if she had turned, ran and jumped out through the cracked window, he would've caught her and it would complicate things. So the most sensible thing to do now was to go right into his face. It was definitely the smartest thing to do, going up against someone who knew how to fight, who threw a mean right hook and was all muscles underneath his black-leather jacket.

Lisa preferred to be in the sidelines; she liked being the one behind a computer and coordinating an attack. It was what her powers specialized in, it was safe, and it was fun in a way. But as Gumshoe, she had been forced into this type of situation more often than she liked. But it was all part of the game, so she would play the system and milk it until it was dry. She reached the threshold of the steps she had been counting, jumped to her left and reached out towards the darkness. Then she—

Was judo flipped, hitting the floor hard and knocking the wind out of her sails. The floor cracked, dipping slightly. She tried to get up, to roll over to hurl the breakfast she ate hours ago. But a knee slammed into her chest and stopped her attempts to relieve her stomach. At least it had stopped her from hurling. The floor dipped further as the knee pressed further against her ribs.

"For someone who likes to make others feel like morons, you sure like to be stupid with your actions."

A face appeared in the darkness: Grue's skull helmet. It was an intimidation strategy of his: with his looks and powers, it made him out to be almost ethereal.

"You...you..." Lisa gasped, almost like a whisper, trying to get the villain to lean close to her. Luring him into her trap.

"That won't work on me Gumshoe." Grue denied her, feeling a hand in her pocket where the USB was. Lisa rolled her eyes. _Plan B._

She acted fast, grabbing the offending arm and pulling him towards her. Grue stumbled, his knee pressing further into her chest. The floor groaned, and Lisa dipped a little bit more. She grunted, held his knee and pushed down further. She felt a crack and then the floor disappeared from beneath her. There was a startled grunt as the two fell. Light filtered into her vision as she briefly got out of the smoky darkness, holding onto the villain's arm. She twisted in the air, Grue against the floor and used the momentum of her fall to roll through the floor.

Lisa reached into her pockets, felt the USB still in there, and sighed in relief. She looked at Grue and saw him holding onto his right shoulder, grunting in pain.

_Right arm longer length, holding in place, trying to snap shoulder in place, dislocated shoulder, 3 minutes until he gets up_

Getting to her feet, she backed away, going for the room's door. Grue turned, and she gave a slow wave.

The villain started to generate more of his darkness again, but she had already turned and got out through the door. She ran down the hall, the crashes and rumblings turning more and more violent. _Fuck, do you have to be this obvious? I know already._

She turned the corner and went for the stairs, taking her down to the main floor of the abandoned building. The front door was broken, hanging off its hinges, and a loud crash finally made the old piece of wood fall down the floor. Lisa stopped, licked her dry lips. Taking a deep breath she got out of the building—

She recoiled back when a monstrosity nearly crashed into her. She looked at the mutated and truck size monster dog, which spasmed erratically and roared. She winced, looking up with a frown.

"Are you trying to get me killed!?"

Glory Girl raised her hands up defensively, backing away slightly. "Weren't you supposed to jump out the window?"

"Complications happened." Lisa looked down at Bitch, seeing the female villain growling at her.

_Angry, at Glory Girl, now at me for working with her, _

_Aggressive, protective, dog hurt, Brutus_

_Looking at me, weakest link, not attacking, yet_

_Hesitating, does not want to hurt, not me, _

"So you got past Grue. You're going to end up ruining his reputation, you know."

_Regent, staying out of the fight, useless against flying Brute_

_Hiding, waiting for opportunity, _

_Is standing close, footsteps, trying to create space_

_Giving Bitch opportunity to attack_

Lisa turned towards him and saw him backing away from her. "It isn't like I'm trying to make him go from a B-list villain down to a C-list."

She tried to take one step towards him, but Regent jumped back. Bitch growled, "Angelica, hurt!"

Lisa turned to see the monster dog jump at her, teeth sharp and salivating, wide and wild. The dog was just a meter away from crashing into her when she was tackled from the side, knocking the wind out of her lungs, and taken to the air. She gasped for breath, eyes wide and looking down as Bitch's dog crashed into the spot she had been just seconds ago. Catching her breath she looked at Glory Girl, who held her over her shoulder.

"You suck…"

"You've got to be stupid or something to be insulting the girl who just saved your ugly ass."

"You're not dropping me, Glory Hole."

"Yeah, yeah, let's get the evidence to mom. I want to put this whole trial behind me. Fuck, how the hell aren't they blaming the clear fucking nazis that live in this place!"

"Victoria, just shut the fuck up. I just had a guy who works out, trains in martial arts and wears all leather step on my chest—!"

"Isn't that one of your sick fantasies."

"And fell down one whole storey after the floor broke beneath me. And you suck at insults just as much as you suck at fashion."

The two stopped mid-air, Victoria grabbing her by her arms and holding her there as she gave her usual critical look.

"You can criticize my fashion sense when you stop wearing that scrunched up, dirty trench coat and fedora, Gumshoe."

_December 15, 2010. 11:15 AM, Downtown, Court of Law_

Carol Dallon hit the pause button on the small controller, and the screen froze at the trash abomination and as it moved out of frame.

"As you can see, the murderer of the high school student Julia was not Mr. Gladly. While he was present with the students during their escapades and parties, this teacher didn't have any reason to kill one of his own students. The cam video even shows further proof of this as this cape, Mush, had entered into the alleyway three minutes prior to Mr. Gladly and tempered with the scene."

Victoria smiled as her mother continued with her closing statements. Once she finalized she sat down and looked at the judge who regarded the prosecution for his own closing statements. The prosecution shook his head, staying on his seat with his fingers interlaced. The judge nodded and turned to the jury.

"Members of the jury, you must now make your decision based on the facts presented and not on feelings."

The jury nodded, then left to make their decision. At that the crowd watching the proceedings all began murmuring amongst each other. Her mom sat down, leaning back as she waited for the verdict. Knowing she wouldn't look back, Victoria turned towards Lisa and whispered.

"The decision they'll make is obvious right?" Some doubt crept into her tone as Lisa sighed.

"Nope, the evidence we brought isn't good enough."

"What!?" she whispered harshly, turning around in case she had been too loud. Lisa gave her a sidelong smug look and smirked.

"Don't worry so much Glory Hole, I pretty much did everything I could to make this case for your mom."

"You mean we, right?"

"Sure."

Ten minutes passed, and the jury came out, all with the same cold, stoic expression. The crowd quieted down.

The judge spoke, "Members of the jury, have you reached a verdict?"

"Yes, your Honor, we have."

"Members of the jury, what do you say?"

"Your Honor, the members of this jury find the defendant NOT GUILTY of first degree murder."

A loud burst of voices exploded, catching some off guard. Gumshoe turned her hand upside on her lap and Glory Girl deliver a low-five towards her partner. The sharp slap of skin against skin went in sync with the judge banging his gavel.

Victoria had hit Lisa a little harder than needed, but she took great pleasure at the murderous glare she was sending her way.

_It feels good delivering Justice._


	2. Case File: 1.01

_Case File 1_

_Lethal Trends_

* * *

"_Oh god...oh god…"_

_Blackwell's eyes opened slowly, her vision blurry. Her eyelids felt heavy, and they closed again, feeling her consciousness fade—_

_The screeching crash made the principal jump off her bed, heart racing as she turned and looked at her curtain covered window. Shakily she got off her bed, and walked towards it. She stopped in front, shaking, and hearing loud thumping steps, she pulled the coverings carefully and looked down._

"_F-fuck…!"_

_The walkway on the other side of the street was painted red, and the dark blue SUV parked there was flattened, with a body on top of it. Well, what was left of a body, because the only reason Blackwell even recognize the mass of flesh as something vaguely human was because the legs were hanging from the wreckage. A shoe fell from the corpse as the street rumbled, and the principal turned and stared as something moved. _

_It was large, with bulky arms that reached down to its stumpy legs. As it turned the corner she saw two long ears sprouting from its head. It disappeared into the darkness of the streets._

_Blackwell backed away from the window, her breath coming out with difficulty. The principal felt her sleep wear dampen, and she looked down at her sweaty body. Her eyes focused on the phone by her night stand and she lunged for it._

—.—

_December 21, 2010. 6:32 AM, Boardwalk._

Lisa tapped her bicep, arms crossed, and cringed when a hurrying couple crashed against her left shoulder. She glared at them and everyone running through the colorful and joyful mall. Her eyes settled on the inflated cartoonish image of Santa Claus and stuck her tongue out at it in retaliation.

_Yeah, let all that edge flow out of you and insult Christmas._ She caught sight of Victoria as she came out with a couple of bags and stared at her with a raised eyebrow. The platinum blonde stopped and regarded her own.

"What?"

"I can't believe I let you drag me here."

"We're Christmas shopping!"

"No, you are and I don't celebrate Christmas."

"Liar, you had to celebrate Christmas once."

"You're making a lot of assumptions for someone who can only punch really hard and get people to shit their pants."

Victoria just gave her a look. "Fucking why?"

"Because it annoys you and hurts your fashionista feelings."

Victoria shook her head, beginning to walk away. "It does annoy me, but it doesn't hurt my fashionista feelings though. Not as much as your outfit does."

Lisa walked a step behind her companion, hands in her jean pockets. "That's because you're constantly eye fucking my clothes, you freak."

"Is it wrong for a hero to look out for a fellow citizen's shitty sense of style?"

"You weren't bitching about what I was wearing today though. That's gotta count for something, or are you just going to ignore the fact that I do in fact have nice clothes back home."

Victoria gave her a squinted glare. "Too bad you don't put it to better use and wear that disgusting trash bag."

"Just because it was cheap doesn't make it trash."

"I'll keep calling it trash until you do something about it."

"But I won't, because—!"

"It hurts my fashionista feelings, yes, yes."

They kept walking in silence, moving around the crowds. They got to the clothing section of the mall and Lisa rolled her eyes.

"You're going to buy more things?"

"I want to buy some stuff for Amy." Victoria looked at the stores around her, then stopping and pointed forward. Lisa followed her finger, seeing a store with two large fluffy reindeers in the front. She noticed the clothing shop didn't have as many customers as its neighbors. "Weird...a shop that isn't full to the brim? That's gotta be a Christmas miracle."

"Or a Christmas massacre, they must be crying for how much money they're missing."

"Hmm, whatever, that'll make it easier and we can leave faster...though isn't that one of the stores Parian made clothing for?" Victoria pointed at the shop as it came into view, Lisa shrugged at the question. "Whatever, but I wonder how Amy'll like it if I get her some new shirts made by Parian."

"She'll love anything you give her, Vicky."

"Don't call me that." The two walked towards the store, seeing two female employees hurriedly come out and grab one of the large stuffed animals. As they got close, the expressions of struggle between the employees became apparent. Victoria looked at them questioningly. One of the workers stared back at her, and then her eyebrows rose up in surprise.

"You're Glory Girl, right?"

Victoria nodded as the two employees stopped what they were doing. "Yeah, you're having trouble with that? Want some help?"

Victoria turned towards Lisa and made to give her bags, but she backed away with her arms raised up. "Oh no, I won't let you rip my arms up with all those bags."

"Urgh, fine." The heroine moved towards the employees, and with the bags still around her arms she grabbed one of the large stuffed reindeer and lifted it off the ground. The female worker pointed towards the store and they moved inside. Lisa blinked as she looked around at the clothing. "So why are you taking out the reindeer, they look pretty cute."

"A better question is why the hell are they throwing away new clothes." Lisa stopped as she looked down at a box filled with dozens of shirts. Victoria gazed critically at the boxes around, then whirled towards the employees with a surprised expression.

"Wait, those designs are from Parian! Why are you throwing them out?"

One of the employees looked at the clothing with a cringe. "Parian killed some innocent guy in the morning. They found one of her giant stuffed bunnies down the street covered in blood."

The other worker approached the platinum blonde with her phone. "There's a livestream of it right here."

Victoria and Lisa looked at each other, then at the phone. The scene showed a street covered in red: police cars, PRT trucks and officers all securing the crime scene. One stood out, wearing armor and in blue.

"Well this'll be a pain in the ass…" Lisa muttered under her breath, turning away. Victoria looked at her.

"Lisa?"

"I recognize the street, it's down at Docks South, in the apartment complexes district. Just hurry up, I want to get home and away from this crowd."

The heroine nodded, understanding what she wanted to say. "Fine, just wait for me. And try not to get into trouble."

"No promises."

—.—

_December 21, 2010. 6:59, Docks South._

Gumshoe adjusted her light brown fedora, her blonde hair flowing behind her untamed, and made sure her domino mask was in place and coveringed her freckles. That done, she put her hands in her brown coat pockets to hide them from the cold winter winds. As much as Victoria liked to complain about her costume, it was efficient. Easy to get into, easy to get out of.

She got close to the scene of the crime, frowning at the crowd of curious citizens. She pushed past them, ignoring their angry cries as she reached the front, but stopped when a police officer put a hand forward.

"Ma'am step back."

"I'm a Cape, I can help with the case."

The officer frowned. "I'm sorry but I don't recognize you and I can't allow that."

Gumshoe cursed under her breath. She hated this part. While having an outfit that didn't call attention to her was great, it was annoying when she tried to do her job and kept getting rebuked. It was at times like this that she would admit Victoria was right about her costume. If it had a little bit more flair then she would be more recognizable. But of course she'd prefer to eat shit before admitting that to her.

"She's with me officer, we're here to deal with the crime scene," Glory Girl voice came from above as she descended slightly beside Gumshoe. The detective cape looked at the flying heroine and nodded at her. The officer looked nervous, but let them pass after a moment of consideration. Walking around the cop cars and PRT trucks, Gumshoe sighed.

"We've got past the easy part."

"Yeah, here they come." She turned to see three PRT officers and Armsmaster walking towards them, stopping and forming a wall to prevent further access. Armsmaster crossed his arms and looked down at them.

"Glory Girl, Gumshoe, this is an ongoing PRT investigation. We didn't request assistance from either New Wave or any independent Capes."

Gumshoe smirked at the hero. "Maybe you didn't, but we're here on our own. Making sure you don't overlook anything, like before."

Armsmaster's lips twitched down. "We have thoroughly searched the entire crime scene. We have both concrete evidence, the murder weapon, motive, eyewitnessesand even DNA evidence to arrest and jail the former rogue Cape, Parian. So really, you can go."

"Armsmaster please…" Glory Girl cut in quick when she noticed Gumshoe was about to say something. "Even if you have a strong case at hand, can't you let us look around? We've proven we can find some things you've missed in the past. And I want to see if there's anything here that could convince me to get mom to help Parian. If there's nothing then we'll back off."

The older hero was stoic, not moving an inch. He let his arms drop and looked at the crime scene behind him.

"You won't find anything, that much I can assure you. But I supposed letting you look around won't cause any issues."

_Confident, sure he found everything, sees our efforts as a waste of time,_

_Aware of the cameras, doing it for the show, PRT hero works with non PRT personnel, good for cameras, good for resume_

_Wants the good attention, the glory, glory hound _

Lisa grinned. "Thanks, we'll be sure to put on a good show."

The blue armored man frowned at her. "Just don't mess with the crime scene, or there'll be trouble."

The hero turned around and walked away, not even letting Glory Girl say her thanks. The officers dispersed after seeing there would be no further issues.

"Ass…" The flying heroine looked at her partner. "Let's just get to it."

The two continued, seeing the flattened car and blood painting the streets, sidewalk and walls of the apartment buildings. Glory Girl cringed at the gore, looking away and shaking her head. Gumshoe clicked her tongue, the smell assaulting her nose.

"Fuck, talk about brutal."

Glory Girl landed beside her partner, crossing her arms and looking at the remains of the body. "So, what does your power tell you about all of this?"

_Remains, human body, top half crushed, torso, chest, stomach, head, ar—_

Gumshoe veered her powers off that road, taking other details into account.

_Body on top of vehicle, SUV, parked, didn't move, stationary for 6 hours, 7 hours—_

_Body thrown on top of vehicle, followed by crushing blow, blood splattered everywhere, except for on spot, wall right behind_

_No cracks in the streets, killing done in the sidewalk, killer never touched the street, no footsteps in the blood covered streets_

_Body was thrown, body had been dragged, forced into this situation_

"Whoever did this, did it with the clear intention of making the murder seem obvious."

"What makes you say that?" Gumshoe ignored the question, moving around the destroyed car and onto the sidewalk. She looked at the deepened cracks, pointed at them and then at car.

"Footsteps, looked at them. They're deep, as if something heavy walked the same route and retraced its steps."

Victoria looked around. "And there's no other footsteps."

"Good, you're paying attention."

Glory Girl ignored the barb. "So how long ago do think the murder occurred?"

Gumshoe checked her watch and looked at the blood splatter. "Four...maybe three hours ago."

"Recent… that leaves us with who was it that got killed."

"The glory hound said they had the murder weapon, and the motive. This means that it was someone associated with Pariah." The heroine in white looked at the Protectorate hero, but Gumshoe stopped her. "Don't, he won't answer. Try and use that charm of yours to get the answers out of the PRT officers around. Just don't be too obvious."

"I got my aura under control Gumshoe." With that Victoria floated over towards a group of officers. Lisa looked down at the cracks and began to follow them.

_Steps harsh, heavy, purposeful, mechanical, made sure to leave only a single trail_

_Single trail to confuse authorities, to get them to question how it arrived, how it left_

_Cracks deep, some too deep, circular, some steps off, stepping ahead of intended place_

_Cracks, filled with dirt, rocks, sand, concrete, metal, metal ben—_

Lisa stopped, took a step back and looked at one of the holes in the ground. Kneeling down she reached out for the piece of metal stuck in there. Pulling it out, she noticed the metal was ripped, white and had splatters of blood. She measured it, it was the same width as her thumb. Turning it over, she noted some details on the back, seeing circuits and recognizing one of the ripped parts as a hole for a small screw.

She looked around and pocketed the newly found evidence. _Didn't miss any evidence my ass. _She continued following the trail, watching the officers around looking at her weirdly or ignoring her. She came to an alleyway and walked inside, stopping as the trail ended. There, laying beside the trash container, was a 6'6 bunny made of threads and covered in blood.

"There's the murder weapon," she muttered, catching the attention of some officers. She paid them no mind as she pulled out the piece of metal she recovered. She looked at the rabbit, narrowing her eyes.

_Rabbit, made of fabric, Parian's powers work light weight objects, pattern similar to other works, does belong to her_

_Covered in blood, fabric ruined, dirt and trash damaged the material, cockroaches biting and tearing into it_

_Fabric made carefully, put together, purpose to look cute, grab attention_

_Does not have any metal on it, no punctures, metal piece, not connected_

"It was an Empire 88 thug apparently, Mark Whitney." Gumshoe blinked and looked back at Glory Girl. She landed beside her and looked at the rabbit. "Fuck...it really doesn't look too good for her."

"What did they say?"

"Armsmaster confirmed the identity. The guy was a troublemaker, in jail four times for misbehavior and assaulting people that weren't white." She turned towards Lisa. "He had a history with Parian too. He and some other thugs went to one of the stores she was at, making Chinese dresses there. Mark and his friends came in and ruined a lot of her work. From what I know, even one dress could cost hundreds of dollars. It was that good."

"And that's the motive then…but it doesn't seal the deal." Gumshoe showed her the evidence she found and Victoria looked at it with a raised brow. "It was in one of the footprints, embedded on the ground...but it looks like tech, right?"

"Tinker tech?"

"Probably, but that does point at Parian not looking absolutely guilty now." Gumshoe turned towards Glory Girl and nodded at the sky. "Go to your mom, get her to be Parian's attorney."

"She won't take the case if Parian looks to guilty."

"Just try and convince her to go to her and talk. Or more specifically, get you to talk with Parian. We don't need your mother taking the case yet."

"Ah, you want Parian's side of the story then. Okay, I can convince mom to at least do that." Glory Girl took to the sky and looked down at Lisa. "I'll meet with you at your apartment."

"Office," Gumshoe snapped, looking up as she stuffed the evidence into her pocket.

"You don't even have a desk! You work from your bed!"

"Shut up and go to your mother already!"

Victoria chuckled and flew, leaving behind a disgruntled Lisa.

"For fuck sakes, what's so wrong about working from my damn bed?"


	3. Case File: 1.02

_Case File 1_

_Lethal Trends _

—.—

Victoria made it to the firm where her mother worked at. She stopped midair, looking at the building, and let out a shaky breath. As she approached the top floor she felt her heart racing, and crossed her arms to steady her nerves

"Here I go again…" She neared one of the windows and knocked it; with how nervous she felt she had to make sure she held back her strength. _I can't let Lisa ever see me like this, or she'll never let me live it down._

Someone answered the window with a confused look, then smiled. Victo—I mean, Glory Girl. How are you?"

"I'm fine Mr. Barnes." She climbed through the window, the man stepping to the side. Once inside, she looked around, seeing the other lawyers and assistants turning towards her. She turned and smiled at the man. "I need to speak with mom."

The man's expression turned into a slight wince and he nodded, "Want me to call her? Or—!"

"No! No...uh..." Victoria eyes drifted and caught sight of her mother. Carol Dallon was dressed in her suit, face stoic and focused on the piece of paper in her hands. She walked briskly towards her office. The young heroine's eyes widened and she took to the air, gazing at Mr. Barnes.

The man nodded. "Get a move on before you lose your shot."

Victoria sped towards the stoic woman, ignoring the look everyone gave her as they stared with rapt attention. "Mom!"

Carol stopped, eyes narrowing and lips pulling into wince. She took a deep breath and looked up at her daughter. "Glory Girl…"

Victoria clenched her hands tightly, letting out a breath through her nose. She squared her shoulders and looked at her mom with all the confidence she could muster.

"Mom, I need your help with the Parian case."

"There are proper channels for this kind of situation Glory Girl. You can't just barge in here and demand an attorney!" Her mother narrowed her eyes and her tone was turning frosty, gaze flickering towards her coworkers. "And anyway, we need to wait until the investigation is done. It's only been a coup—!"

"Gumshoe and I found evidence that could mean Parian is innocent."

"Glory Girl…" Her mom ground out, but Victoria paid it no need.

"If we can help her, then we should! That's what you taught me."

Carol was grinding her teeth and glaring at her, but before she could retort towards her mother, a baritone voice cut through the air.

"Go Dallon." They turned to see an overweight, middle-aged man in a grey suit. The man took off his glasses, and nodded. "This is a Cape issue, so I don't see why you shouldn't take it."

"Tsk, because a Cape covers their own. Freaks…" someone muttered, but Victoria heard it and she glared. Her mother glared too and then focused on her daughter. She then turned towards the middle-age man and nodded.

"Of course Mr. Robinson. I'll be right on it, sir." Carol looked back at her daughter, her eyes murderous. "Let me get my suitcase and make a phone call towards the PRT...to make the appointment."

Victoria looked away. _Looks like_ _I won't be celebrating Christmas at home._

—.—

"Come on mom, you can't be angry with me!"

"Don't you raise your voice at me Victoria! Ever since you started working with...that Cape, you've been nothing but a brat."

"How I have been a brat!? I've been helping you and your cases!"

Her mother fixed her with a glare. "Sneaking through my suitcase and looking for any case I have pending or had been studying isn't helping, Victoria."

"You won those cases mom! And we're working on this one so you can win it too!"

"That isn't the point Victoria."

"No, the point is that we're doing good. Me and Gumshoe, we've been getting to the truth on a lot of cases and proving that a lot of people who were being accused are innocent! And Gumshoe found evidence that could prove Parian is innocent!"

"And!? Does that give you the right to come to my office and coerce me into taking this case!?"

"Coerce you!? It wasn't coercion—!"

"Don't think I'm stupid Victoria! Do you think I haven't noticed the little antics you put up when you drop this sort of things on my lap? Begging for help in front of everyone because you know I can't refuse when you do something like that?"

Glory Girl winced. "I only do it because it's the only way to help someone who's innocent!"

"And what about all the others that weren't innocents, Victoria?" Carol was seething now, looking at Victoria. "Two times you made me defend complete and abhorrent pieces of garbage, all because that detective wannabe got the wrong leads!"

Victoria sputtered at the words, eyes stinging slightly at the glare her mother gave her. "Y-Yeah, we made mistakes bu—!"

"Enough!" Carol slammed the breaks harshly, turning and glared down at her daughter. "If you don't stop, I swear I'll turn the car right around and tell someone else to take Parian's case. Do you understand me Victoria Dallon?"

Victoria let out a strangled groan, crossing her arms and glaring out of the car window. Her mother drove once more, taking sharp turns as they neared the PRT HQ. Her mother let out a strained sigh, making the blonde teen look at the older woman for a second before she stared at the moving city buildings in quiet defiance. She felt her aura grow, releasing its effect inside the car and slamming against her mother. She quickly snapped it off just to avoid having her mom continue the argument.

Victoria loved her mother, she really did, but over the past few months the need to be out of her home had increased more and more. Carol Dallon was a pain to deal with when she was in one of those moods where she saw someone as an adversary. She held back none of her barbs, her contempt nor her anger. It was difficult to deal with. Victoria had seen that type of behavior from her mother, but never aimed at her.

She bit her lip. _Why the fuck do you have to be so unfair mom! I'm doing good! I'm being a hero! _It was becoming more and more of a challenge to talk with her, like she walking on eggshells. And if she wasn't careful, then an argument like the one she had been having in the car would blow up.

She didn't want to fight her; it was tiresome, it was frustrating, and it made her want to cry. And it hurt even worse when her mother presented valid points, which just made her feel like a failure. All she wanted to be was the hero her household had groomed and expected her to be. And she'd found her calling in helping Gumshoe.

Instead of just being a flying brick that would knock out criminals and let the police take care of them, she was now someone who could help Brockton Bay in the long run: Solving murder cases, getting evidence when they knew that the culprit was innocent, getting concrete proof to convict real criminals that wouldn't otherwise have been jailed.

These past few months had been the best months for Glory Girl. The year before meeting Gumshoe, Glory Girl was just another Alexandria package — younger, weaker, slower and stupider. But helping Gumshoe escape the troubles she had faced and being forced to work together had changed the heroine. Working with Gumshoe had tempered Glory Girl's strength and focus her limited power to do something useful, lasting, impactful in the world.

She looked towards her mom, cringed away, and stared out of the car windshield again. Glory Girl was living the life, but Victoria Dallon was suffering. _Don't be so fucking over-dramatic Vicky. _Victoria sighed, she knew she was exaggerating. But it didn't take away the fact that everything in her home had changed.

The car came to a stop and Victoria looked up, seeing the PRT HQ building. Carol took out the keys, opened the door and looked at her. She regarded her daughter with distrust and coldness.

"Come on, and don't even think about making another scene like you did back in the firm, Victoria."

With that her mother got out the car, slammed the door close and walked off to the building. Victoria bit her lip and let out a sigh.

_I think I'm starting to get how mom treated you, Amy._

—.—

It took nearly half an hour for the two to filled out all the papers, get past security and be escorted down to the detention center of the building. The officers taking them to Parian stopped in front of a door guarded by their fellow comrades, greeted them and stepped away. Victoria and Carol stood there, the guards stepping aside to allow entry. The lawyer stepped forward, Victoria in tow, but was stopped by a harsh glare from her mother.

"You're not coming."

"What? Why not?"

Carol turned around and moved, "This is between a lawyer and her...client."

Victoria's hands clenched tightly at the words, "This wasn't an issue in the past, mom."

"It is now. I'll talk with her and determine whether the case is a loss cause or not."

"Mo—!" The young heroine tried to call for her mother, but the woman ignored her and entered into the interrogation room. The officers were quick to step in and stop any attempt for her to follow.

"Sorry Glory Girl, Mrs. Dallon is correct. She's the lawyer and the only one who has any right to talk with the client."

The blonde bristled, "Fuck!"

"Glory Girl?" A familiar voice called out and Victoria whirled around, looking at Dean in his Gallant attire. "Are you here for another case?"

Her eyes widened and a smile spread through her lips. _Well hello there handsome, you will definitely help me get to Parian._


	4. Case File: 1.03

Case File 1

Lethal Trends

_—.—_

_December 21, 2010. 9:42, Downtown, PRT ENE HQ._

"Didn't we agreed to meet back at my apartment? Why the hell are you dragging me all the way to the PRT building?" Lisa's expression showed nothing but annoyance as she stalked towards Victoria. The flying heroine floated around the back of the building and looked down at her, descending to greet her partner with a shrug.

"There were...complications."

_Frustrated, voice shaky, rough, lips have bite marks, _

_Eyes red, wet, tears welled up, no tear stains, didn't cry, held it_

_Angry, fist clenched, teeth gritted, posture tense_

_Got into an argument, went to her mother, Carol Dallon, frustrating to deal with, stubborn_

_Fought with her mother_

Lisa rolled her eyes. "No shit there was going to be complications, this is your mother we're talking about."

"I don't need to remind you that it was your idea to send me to her right?"

"Well you could've convinced her or something."

"Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. I made a mistake and came on too strong, mom pushed back harder." Glory Girl's brows furrowed. "I didn't even get to talk with Parian at all. Hell, I didn't even see her, mom left me out of the room and I had to think of something else to get to Parian."

"You didn't exactly specify what this new plan of yours is, you know?"

"I had to improvise. At least you got here on time."

"Fuck off with your at least. And tell me already what's up."

Victoria leaned forward with a smirk. "I got us a way inside. And we can talk with Parian."

"That's a first, I never get to talk with the suspects until it's way too late."

"Well don't get too happy yet, I don't know if there'll be a repeat performance."

"Well that sucks...we can't even use your mom anymore for this sort of stuff?"

"I don't know...she was more stubborn than usual, angry even." Victoria let out a sigh as she crossed her arms. "And she seemed a lot more insistent on not wanting to take this case too…if it wasn't for her boss basically telling her to do it, I don't think I would've managed to drag her here."

Lisa crossed her arms. "Well at least you managed to get Parian an attorney. And as much as I hate to admit it, a competent one."

"So that's like phase three done, with one and two still not finished."

"Phase one is almost done. I managed to scout out more clues out of the rabbit doll," Gumshoe ground out, a forced grin crossing her lips. "But Armsmaster kicked me out of the crime scene when he realized you weren't there with me."

"Find anything new?"

"The rabbit was cut in the back, and the way it was done suggest that something like a knife was used."

"They don't find that weird?"

"They do, but they're ruling it as a misdirection or something. There was also ash around the back where the cut is, but I was booted out before I could do more investigating. Fucking bearded prick."

"They don't usually boot you out like that...what did you say?"

"I know how to behave." Lisa ignored the raised brow of Victoria and crossed her arms. "I can tell that they are set in having Parian be guilty."

Victoria crossed her arms and glared. "Fucking why?"

"I got some ideas…" Lisa looked to her right and saw a knight costumed Ward come out of one of the back doors of the building and wave at Glory Girl. Gumshoe blinked and looked at the flying cape. "So our way in is a pussy whipped Ward?"

Victoria just looked at her with the most unimpressed look she could muster. "Do you want to talk with Parian or not?"

Lisa hummed. "Fine, fine let's go."

The two approached the nervously shifting Ward, who looked at them and back at the door. When she stopped in front of him, Gallant regarded the detective cape with a nod.

"Gumshoe...please try to be discreet. I really shouldn't be letting the two of you in here at all."

The cape detective snorted. "What a greeting."

"Glory Girl may like you, but we haven't forgotten what you did," the Ward ground out as they moved through the building's hallways.

Gumshoe rolled her eyes and looked at Glory Girl. "Not my fault you can't take some criticism."

"You were a massive bitch to be honest," Victoria admitted, Lisa sighed and shrugged.

"So why help us?"

"I'm helping Victoria, not you...and I still say that this is a bad idea."

Victoria growled, glaring at Gallant's back as they followed him. "How can you think that helping someone who could be innocent is a bad idea!?"

The Ward looked at her and placed a single finger on his helmet. "Don't be so loud! And I keep telling you that all the evidence that Armsmaster found completely points the finger at Parian. Why are you being so obtuse about this?"

"Because Gumshoe fou—!"

"I find the entire thing weird," Lisa cut Victoria off, ignoring the confused look she received. "The murder, the rabbit doll, the presentation of it all screams set up to me."

Gallant turned towards a door that had a panel on the side, typed on it, and the door opened. It lead to another hall with an elevator at the end of it.

"You've been wrong before, Gumshoe." The words were barbed, and Lisa forced a grin in response to the frustrating fact. "And if the case was really as weird as you say, then Armsmaster would've said something or found evidence to prove your theory true."

Victoria by now was looking intently at Lisa, mouthing 'what did you do with the thing you found?' Gumshoe placed her hands in her coat pockets, fingering the scrap of metal she took and keeping quiet. Lisa ignored her as they got to the elevator and entered it. She looked at the male hero and shrugged.

"Maybe you're right, but I'm interested in knowing what the suspect has to say. Is that so wrong?"

"It's wrong when you're someone with ulterior motives and known to screw with us." Gallant hit the floor button with more force than intended, let out a small curse and glared at Gumshoe. "You think this is a game, you don't take what you're doing seriously . That's why we take issue with you."

Lisa just shrugged, looking at the quiet Victoria with a raised eyebrow. The heroine in white noticed the look and avoided her gaze, crossing her arms. Lisa glared at her, noticing the look Victoria directed at her pockets with squinted eyes.

Gumshoe raised her hand, gesturing that she was backing off and stared right ahead. _Can't complain much if they're somewhat right…_

They arrived at the intended floor. Some officers were posted in front of the elevator and they looked at them with surprise.

Gallant looked at the two. "Wait here…" He walked towards them just as Victoria swooped in and glared at her.

"Tell me you gave Armsmaster the piece of scrap you found. For the love of all that is fucking Holy...!" Glory Girl whispered harshly, her breath hot against Gumshoe's right ear. The detective cape winced, feeling ticklish. She pushed the heroine away and whispered harshly back.

"Calm the fuck down…! And no, I didn't give those asshats the piece of tinker tech…!"

"Are you fucking nuts…! What the fuck is wrong with you…? This is illegal, you know that if we present this in court it's invalid right…!?"

"If I give this thing to them, then they won't do shit..!"

"Fucking why…!? Why the fuck do you always put me in this position damnit…! I got my mom distrusting me on one side and you giving me bad rep with all the other heroes when you pull these stunts!"

"If you care so much about your reputation then fuck off!"

"Goddamnit…! You know what I fucking mean! How do you expect me to help you when you keep burning the bridges I have with others?"

Lisa clicked her tongue at that, crossed her arms and looked away. Gallant returned, looking at the two.

"Everything okay?"

Victoria answered, "Yeah, can we talk to Parian?"

"Ten minutes, that's all the time I could buy for you."

Victoria opened her mouth to respond, but Lisa cut her off. "That's enough for me to get something out of her. Let's go, times a wastin."

Lisa moved, not needing her power to know of the glare she was receiving from Gallant. She stopped, blinking as she realized she didn't know where she was going and turned around. Putting her hands on her hips and tapping her foot, she looked at the still standing heroes. Gallant looked at Glory Girl, then walked briskly, passing by Gumshoe and almost smashing his shoulder against hers. Victoria followed, looking at her with a raised brow.

"Did you at least listen to what I said?"

"I'll take it into consideration for now, let's just go and find out what the hell this case is all about." Before Victoria could move, Lisa snapped her hand and caught her wrist. "And I meant what I said about these people not doing anything with the evidence…"

Glory Girl narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

"Things are too public...and this is a rogue we're talking about. The PRT moved way too quick with this. It feels…planned."

Victoria looked unsure, then turned towards the waiting Gallant. The white costumed heroine turned towards her and nodded. "Fine, let's see how this pans out."

"Agree, but hey, trust me. I can promise that this will be interesting."

The two followed after the Ward, reaching the prison cells. The cells had metal doors with consoles on them, with a small monitor on top and numbers labeling them. They walked past a few and stopped in front of the cell doors numbered "14", Gallant typed something on the console and the screen at the top flared to life, showing the occupant inside in high definition. Lisa frowned as she watched a girl with eastern features and dark hair, lying in the bed of her cell.

_Breathing harshly, sobbing, red, puffy eyes, tears, crying_

_Staring, spaced out look, thinking, considering_

_Carol Dallon, last person to talk with her, Carol, rough, inconsiderate, stubborn_

Gumshoe let out a sigh as the Ward spoke into the mic near the console, "Sabah, you've got visitors here. They want to talk with you."

Lisa and Victoria looked at each other, raising their eyebrows at the clear use of Parian's name. Lisa shook her head. _They already have her proclaimed as guilty, they're only waiting for the judge's gavel to smash down and make it official._

"_**Mom!?" **_The imprisoned cape jumped off the bed and scrambled towards the camera, then stopped, frowning. "_**Who...Glory Girl...and the cape detective…?"**_

Gumshoe rolled her eyes. "Well fuck me, I had thought my name would be more recognizeble by now."

Gallant looked at the two female capes. "You've got nine minutes, don't waste them."

With that he walked away, leaving the three girls alone. Victoria turned towards the camera and gave a reassuring smile.

"Are you okay?"

Lisa looked at her with a frown. "What kind of stupid question is that?"

Victoria glared. "I'm asking her how she's doing and trying to make her feel comfortable around us!"

"You're wasting time that's what you're doing." Gumshoe turned towards the screen and pointed at her. "Listen, we've got a limited time, answer a couple of questions so we can get to the bottom of things and you'll be free and innocent."

Parian bit her lip. "_**You...you two believe I'm innocent?"**_

Gumshoe nodded. "I found tinker tech on the crime scene which paints a couple of other possibilities."

The prisoner leaned forward, looking hopeful. "_**Did you show it to the authorities? Can that get me out of here…?"**_

Victoria glared at her partner, then sent a shaky smile at the screen. "Unfortunately my partner didn't think it was a good idea to share it."

Parian flinched, head bowing. "_**O-Oh...but why? Aren't you trying to help me?" **_

Gumshoe crossed her arms. "Were you offered a deal?"

"_**What?" **_The cape in the cell looked confused and Lisa groaned, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Did any of the PRT capes or Carol Dallon offer a deal? Did they say something like making you into a Protectorate cape if you accept a guilty plea? Am I right?"

Victoria looked at Gumshoe, eyes narrowed and clenching her hands. "Fuck...that's way too fast isn't it?"

Parian sighed. "_**Yeah...they made that deal…"**_

Lisa clicked her tongue and looked away. "And you accepted."

"_**What choice did I have!?"**_ the older cape screamed, she slammed her hands on the metal door and glared. "_**Miss Militia kept insisting that this deal would be the only way to stop the Empire 88 from going into a frenzy when they learn that a eastern immigrant "killed" one of their own! She wouldn't stop and...and even though I know it was just a lie…! It fucking worked!"**_

"I wouldn't say she was lying." Lisa rubbed her chin, ignoring the pointed glare from Victoria.

"**What…?"**

Gumshoe shook her head. "Past case, doesn't have to do with you right now."

"It kinda does," Victoria drawled, and Lisa waved her off.

"Did Carol Dallon do the same?"

"_**It was because of her that I accepted...but what choice did I have?" **_Parian looked down, "_**They already scheduled my trial to be for the twenty-third…"**_

Glory Girl winced. "That's too soon!"

Lisa nodded. "Seems similar, right?"

"The Shadow Stalker Case...fuck that case was rough."

Lisa nodded and cleared her throat, catching Parian's attention. "Anyway, that was the reason I didn't give them any other evidence. The entire thing looked way too staged and obvious."

"You're not seriously going to say that the PRT planned all of this, are you?" Victoria ground out with a glared, but Lisa continued.

"No this was definitely a set up, but not by the PRT. They're just capitalizing on it to get a rogue with a flexible power. Hell, I would say that you accepting that guilty plea was the best thing you could've done."

"_**So even if you think I'm innocent...I'm fucked...an entire hero organization is forcing me to be a hero…? What the fuck is wrong with them…" **_Parian fell to her knees. "_**I'll have to accept...I'll be separated from my mom...all my cousins!"**_

"Parian…" Victoria winced as the jailed cape looked up with tears in her eyes.

"_**They'll think I'm a murderer...mom won't looked at me anymore, she won't accept me! Even if it was some nazi wannabe asshole...she won't look at me like her daughter anymore! Fuck!"**_

Lisa rolled her neck, nodding and snapped her fingers. "Yeah, yeah, listen! Just because I said you made the right choice doesn't mean that it's the only one. There's way too many holes in this entire case, so help me poke more holes in it and reveal the truth. So come on, Parian, tell me all the details that you know from the moment you were arrested to anything suspicious that came before."

Parian looked alert. "_**Suspicious? The rabbit that was used in the murder was stolen!"**_

Glory Girl crossed her arms. "If it was stolen then that would definitely reveal that Parian couldn't have been the one to commit the murder."

Lisa nodded. "When did you discover that it was stolen?"

The imprisoned cape looked away. "_**Half...half an hour before the PRT officers came barging into my home and arrested me."**_

"Half an hour!?" Victoria screamed, floating back as if struck. "Where was the doll? Was it in one of the stores you helped sponsor?"

"_**N-No...it was in my house, right in my room…"**_ Parian's words came out stilted, as if saying them hurt her. Lisa couldn't help cringing.

"Fuck, this is making it so much fucking harder."

"_**I know! But I wasn't the one who did it! I swear…"**_ Parian deflated. "_**I swear...I didn't kill that guy! He was a massive prick and ruined some of my work, but I wouldn't go after him! I'm not that fucking stupid, especially if I fuck up and they saw my ethnicity! The entire Empire 88 member would drop everything to hurt me! Oh god...they'll release my identity on the trial…! My family is in danger!"**_

Victoria put her hands up in placating manner, "Calm down, we'll try and prevent that from happening."

Gumshoe shrugged callously, wanting to push the imprison cape a little bit more near her breaking point and see if she would reveal something unexpected. "I've come to learn that people do stupid shit."

The middle-eastern cape paled. "_**Oh no...you don't believe me…"**_

Victoria looked at Lisa. "Fuck, this doesn't look good for her at all. Maybe...maybe, we made a mistake?"

Lisa scratched her chin in thought and closed her eyes. "No, no, there's something I have to know before I pass judgment. Parian, tell me something, did you burn anything in your home? Because I found ashes on the rabbit."

"_**There was a fire the night before! On the floor above mine! We were all forced to evacuate until the firefighters managed to put out the fires…! Wait, are you implying that my doll was stolen during the fire?"**_

"Implying? No, I'm not implying anything at all. I'm just opening up new possibilities." Lisa turned towards Victoria. "We need to go there and investigate her room then."

"You think there was an actual theft?"

"Parian, you said the apartment above yours burned right? Did the fire spread anywhere more?"

"_**No, just the apartment above. We all thought it was a miracle, no one got hurt and the family that lived there were out eating."**_

"Then the possibility of a theft has increased." Lisa tipped her fedora, smirking. "Tell us where is it that you live."

"Up north of the South Docks, near the Trainyard."

Lisa nodded. "Then that's our destination, let's get there before the clock runs out."

Victoria nodded, opening her mouth to respond—

"Good, because the two of you aren't supposed to be here." The two capes whirled around and stared at the tense and stoic form of Miss Militia, arms folded and sending the two a stern look.

"Oh fuck…" Victoria moaned, hanging her head. "This is going to be so much fucking worse when mom finds out."

Lisa shrugged. "Does it matter? You're already fucked."


	5. Case File: 1.04

_Case File 1_

_Lethal Trends_

—.—

_December 21, 2010. 11:56 AM, South Docks, Brockton Bay skies._

Lisa held onto her fedora, grimacing at the back of Victoria as she flew above Brockton Bay. She shifted nervously, legs dangling by Glory Girl's thighs. She didn't exactly like flying, not like this anyway, where a wrong turn could mean her falling and smashing into the streets below. It was outside of her control and she didn't like it.

_Fuck, I'm actually hating this case right now. _Things weren't going as smoothly as before; the PRT agenda tended to be more subtle than their current bulldozing methods.

She frowned, glaring at the fast moving city below. Cases had been escalating recently; cape involvement had been minimal with the things she handled in the past. The case in November with Vista and the one this month with the Winslow teacher, being fine examples. The November case had her feeling like someone was behind the scenes, but it hadn't gone anywhere, and right now it was sitting inside her file of Cold Cases. The Gladly case tipped her off with that USB; all she'd wanted was the recording to prove the school teacher was innocent.

Instead she found a corrupted file, filled with cape names and cities. This was weird and had her connecting dots to things that she couldn't confirm nor deny. Her eyes flickered towards Victoria, seeing her face in concentration and hearing her grunts as she typed on her cellphone. _Still fighting with that dumb boyfriend of yours Vicky? Move on, we've got more important stuff to worry about._

Lisa knew she was being bitchy, but she didn't care, or she told herself that at least. She was burning bridges faster and faster as the months moved by; December just had her dropping napalm strikes in them, and the Undersiders were just a casualty of her forward charge for the truth. It was just unfortunate that Victoria had to suffer through the same path of losing relationships.

_She could've left anytime, she knows what she's getting into. _Lisa made that thought echo through her head loudly, before turning towards Victoria and putting up a glare.

"Stop texting, you're going to get us killed!"

"Don't scream in my ear, and we're not going to crash, we're higher than any building in the city."

Lisa glared, searching for anything that would make her feel like she won. "What if a plane hit us?"

"Planes don't fly this low, and you know it!"

"A helicopter?"

"They're way too loud for me not to notice."

"You've been descending, taking us lower and lower, so you would—fuck!"

Glory Girl rapidly flew higher, forcing Gumshoe to hug her tight to prevent herself from falling. The flying heroine gave the detective a smug look.

"High enough for you?"

"Fuck you! And stop texting that ass already, he was the one who got caught."

"Gallant is still mad with me though...fuck, this's gotta be like the third break up we've had since summer."

"Boohoo, you should be used to it by now. Especially since you keep letting it happen."

Glory Girl stopped, flipping off her passenger. "So it's my fault now!?"

Lisa bit the inside of her cheeks, realizing that she needed to tone down the snark. "Calm down, not what I meant. When you're out here with me, you're so much smarter and assertive, but Gallant appears and you're like the typical airhead. It's fucking depressing. It's why I don't go looking for a boyfriend, just looking at the two of you makes me gag."

"You won't ever get a boyfriend to be honest, not with how much of bitch you are." Victoria began to fly again. "And I love Gallant, he's my...he's my everything."

Gumshoe let out a sigh of relief at having defused an argument. "God, just throw me out of the fucking sky."

"Drama queen."

"More like the only sensible teenager who is not ruled by hormones in the world who isn't a fucking sociopath."

"Sometimes I wonder why I put up with you."

Lisa frowned at that, looking down at the moving city below. The guilt of those words bit into her. The words Victoria had uttered back in the cells of the PRT HQ still gnawed at her, even if she tried her damndest to damp it down. She realized what her attitude and methods were costing Victoria, but she wouldn't stop, not now. Not when she had a purpose and direction in her life.

_Finding the truth._ That was all there was to it, she would find the truth of something and lord it over whoever opposed her. Victoria had just directed this obsession of hers to be used against criminals. Becoming a detective was the last thing she'd ever thought of doing, but it had worked in stroking her ego and making her feel like she wasn't bottling up everything. It was almost like therapy, an addictive therapy that she wouldn't let go for anything in the world.

_Not even for you Victoria. You already have everything…maybe...probably...fuck, why do you put up with me? _

She would feel bad if she lost Victoria; she would admit that it would be lonely. Despite their constant sniping, she enjoyed the banter. _Can be a pain in the ass to deal with you when you're feeling emotional though. _Sentimentality was a weakness; she knew how to spot it, but she didn't know how to handle it well. She could easily take Victoria out to do whatever she wanted: buying tons of clothes, exercise, spend days investigating every inch of the city and make plans to take out the Empire 88 or ABB.

But Victoria was more complicated than that, she had come to notice. Spending lots of money on clothes would end with Victoria feeling guilty, despite the money spent being Lisa's own private account. Working out or playing sports would only momentarily distract her from her troubles. And while planning on taking out all crime from the city was one of Glory Girl's fantasies, it was not viable anymore to ensure her happiness or keep her from feeling depressed. She had matured in a way, seeing the detective work the two were doing as being more impactful.

Victoria was a mystery to her still in some ways. So she pushed her, more and more, until they were there in the sky on the verge of what could be an argument depending on her answer. _Would you burn away our partnership Victoria? Would you choose them over me? _Glory Girl made traveling the city easier, it made going into cape fights or otherwise not be complete suicide. If it wasn't for Glory Girl, then Gumshoe wouldn't be so successful. _I'm getting sentimental here...dial it back, dial it the fuck back._

She sighed, wrapping her arms around Victoria's waist. Hugging her, knowing Victoria wouldn't figure out what her actions were or meant. "Because I actually get out my comfy bed and help you try to better this shithole of a city? Instead of just turning tail and running away with my laptop, hacking away at corrupt rich people."

Glory Girl hummed. "When you put it like that…"

"And I don't deal with all the political crap like the PRT, nor wonder how good my actions will reflect on the eventual best seller cape book like your family tends to get worried about."

Victoria tensed slightly. "They don't…"

Lisa cursed her insensitive comment, thinking fast on how to fix her blunder. "You told me your mom threw a bitchfest! And I can guess very, very easily that it had to do with me and has to do with what those few cases quote-unquote cost her."

"That's mom, but Aunt Sarah approves of our partnership at least."

"Which is why I only complain about the book thing and don't call all of them idiots. Mostly your mom...and maybe your sister."

"You're just scared of her since she could take away your freckles."

"Fuck yes I'm shitting bricks with an angstsy Panacea. I like my freckles!"

"Then don't piss her off."

"I don't try to piss her off, she just treats me as if I was the worst insult in the world."

Victoria chuckled, putting away her phone. Lisa felt her lips twitch up to smirk at that, relief to having distracted her from Gallant.

"Well you're easy to be angry at."

"The fuck does that mean?"

"Use your powers to figure it out Sherlock."

"Gumshoe, Glory Hole, I'm not going to use the cheesy and easy name here, and you know it. And I can't, I think I got about a minute before my head bursts into a nuclear explosion of pain."

"It's been a long day…"

"Long day!? We're barely past twelve here!"

"Yeah, I can feel the heat. And the fucking sweat...god."

"It isn't that hot and we're in December!"

"I'm forcing myself to fly and carry your fat ego to Parian's family."

"Funny." Lisa leaned into Victoria, staying silent as she watched the city move slowly below. A hum escaped her, tightening her hold on the flying cape. "I think I can see the apartment complex."

Victoria's head turned right and left, looking back at her with a raised eyebrow. Lisa just pointed at the graffitied, decrepit looking apartment. "Huh, you would think that with the money Parian makes with her outfits that she would be living more lavishly."

"Appearances can be deceiving." The two landed on the sidewalk right in front of the building. Lisa jumped off Victoria's back, fixed her trench coat and nodded at the heroine. They looked around, seeing the street filled with parked cars and people entering into a small gas station on the other side of the street. Their gaze turned back to the apartment building and up, noting the fourth floor looked charred, with the windows broken.

"Well I guess now we know where Parian lives," Glory Girl noted. Gumshoe nodded.

They walked towards the front door and entered the building. Glory Girl winced and started floating. Gumshoe looked at her with a raised brow. "You're such a blonde."

"You're one to talk." They walked towards the stairs, illuminated by the window at the end of the hall. They went up the steps, reaching the third floor, making their way towards the apartment where Parian's family lived in. They stopped when the door opened with a heavy clank. They frowned as an eastern middle aged woman stepped out. Her features were similar to Parian, just older and aged, hair graying and tied into a messy bun.

The woman looked at them with downcast eyes, breathing hard and sniffing, her hands holding a cellphone horizontally. She bit her lip and stared at her phone, then back at the capes. Lisa frowned at the action.

_Distraught, desperate, looking for confirmation, at us, at the phone,_

_She's in a call, no audio, holding phone wrong, _

_Screen is flashing, watching something, watching a video,_

"You two...you two are here to investigate what my daughter said right!? That her doll was stolen! That she wasn't the one who committed that heinous, horrible crime…!"

Gumshoe and Glory Girl looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Victoria floated near the distraught mother, noticing others peeking through the opened door. She put on a reassuring smile as the ones looking were children. She turned towards Parian's mother.

"Yeah, we're here to get to the truth of this crime and prove your daughter's innocence. But how did you guess we were coming?"

Gumshoe took a step forward and pointed at the phone. "What are you watching? Show us what's on the phone."

The mother blinked at her and nodded, turning the phone around and showing them the video. The two capes leaned in to get a better look, and froze as they noticed what they were looking at.

"A...livestream? Of us…?" Victoria gulped, hands shaking as she watched the phone screen show the dark hallway, with their backs to the camera and the mother of Parian looking over their shoulder and out of the window. The camera moved, swaying from left to right as it focused on them. "What is going on!?"

"_...What is going on…!?" _Victoria's voice filtered through the phone, making Glory Girl stiffen.

"It's the same livestream that those girls showed us this morning…" Lisa bit the inside of her cheeks, watching the stream repeat her words back to her somewhat dampened. Victoria turned to look back, the video showing Glory Girl copy the motion from another perspective. The white costumed cape looked out of the window, her expression pixelated as the stream quality dropped. "We were being followed...from the very beginning."

"I can see it!" Lisa turned, looking at where Glory Girl was pointing. "It's a drone?"

_Small, 6 inches, grey, circular, plate, shape, UFO inspired, _

_Camera on top, microphone underneath, made to stream from afar, not to be detected_

_Shaking, outlines turning red, sparks flying, it's going—_

The flying saucer drone blew up, making everyone present recoil back as the window cracked when a piece of debris crashed against it. Lisa turned towards the phone the mother was still holding and saw the stream had died. Not a moment later, the black screen turned back on, this time showing the prison cell were Parian was being held.

"Fuck...this case just got a lot more interesting."


	6. Case File: 1.05

_Case File 1_

_Lethal Trends_

—.—

_December 21, 2010. 12:27 PM, Trainyard, Parian's family's apartment._

Parian's home was unique, in a manner of speaking. The jailed cape had customized everything with her powers. The carpet on the floor was sprawled throughout the entire apartment, designs adorning it and changing as it went from room to room. Each design was different: the living room had natural colors and lit up as the midday sun poured through the window, the master bedroom had sharper strokes and darker colors, while the other two rooms were colorful and spontaneous. It was clear why the carpet was designed this way.

Even the walls of the apartment had threads covering them, the designs more for decoration than establishing character. They too were colored in different ways, their tones complementing each other and the carpet below.

_There's no doubt that Parian is an artist; the entire thing is obnoxiously consistent with all the designs. Though I guess they don't have to pay for paint or clothes, so that's a plus._

"The phone isn't working…!" Victoria growled, making Lisa turn towards her with a raised brow. Glory Girl noticed the look and waved her cellphone. "I'm trying to call the PRT HQ, but I'm not getting any signal."

"And with no home phone present, the drone earlier did more than blow up I guess."

"Whoever was watching us doesn't want us contacting others…"

Lisa looked at Parian's family, all huddled up in the living room with the mother and two other grown women keeping the children calm and distracted. Gumshoe tipped her fedora, clicking her tongue. "That livestream just put a massive countdown on our clocks. The Empire 88 was watching this for sure."

Glory Girl crossed her arms. "And we fell straight into this trap, fuck...we've put an entire family in danger!"

"Humph, don't be so bleak, that's my job Glory Hole."

"But still, who do you think the drone belonged to?"

"Uber and Leet most likely."

Victoria frowned, then her eyes widened as she recognized the clues. "The UFO drone, the livestream…! God why are those two involved with this?"

"And this too." Lisa pulled out the piece of scrap metal, which made Glory Girl frown as she looked at it. Shaking her head, Lisa put it back into her pocket. I would say those two maybe got morbid curiosity about this murder, but that would be putting it mildly. I'm beginning to think they had something to do with this case."

"But why frame Parian?"

"Who knows? That's what we're going to look into," Gumshoe didn't wait for a response as she turned towards the family and pulled out her phone. "I'll say we've got five minutes for questioning and investigation."

Glory Girl hummed. "Then I escort family to safety right?"

"Yup, can't take any chances here." Lisa rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes. "I've got at best like a minute or forty seconds left of my powers. I'll have to use it sparingly for now."

"I get it, Gumshoe. Let's get to work and to the bottom of this." Victoria passed the detective cape as she made her way to the family. Parian's mother looked up at them and stood up, meeting them halfway.

"How can I help? Sabah is innocent, she didn't kill anyone!"

Lisa nodded. "We know, but we need to ask some questions and fast, um…"

"Dunia, call me Dunia, just ask what you need!" The woman looked at the two capes. Victoria took a step forward, crossing her arms.

"Did Parian have any conflict with Uber or Leet?"

"Those are the two capes constantly posting videos right?" Dunia's question was answered with a simple nod. "Then no, the only one who my daughter got into any sort of scuffle was against that nazi thug the other day...but Sabah never raised a hand or did anything against him!"

Victoria frowned. "That doesn't make much sense, why would those two target her then?"

Lisa shook her head. "Useless question. Where was the rabbit before it got stolen?"

"In the youngest children's room." Dunia directed them to the bedroom, and upon entering the two capes looked around with raised eyebrows.

"No beds?" Lisa asked as she saw three animal dolls around the room, an elephant, a gorilla, and a whale. A large dresser sat on the corner, right below the window.

"Ever since Sabah got her powers, she has been incredibly creative. Making new clothes with our old ones, and even making more comfortable beds for everyone. We only need to spend money on food and threads for her to work with."

Victoria hummed. "That's...that's a great way to use your powers."

"No kidding." Lisa looked around and smirked. "But it does give me some idea of how the rabbit could've been stolen."

"Well do your thing, Gumshoe. Let's review the facts." Glory Girl crossed her arms and cocked her head.

Lisa nodded, chaining her powers in and thinking normally. "First thing first, the rabbit that's being framed as the murder weapon. The doll was cut in the back with a knife, the cut was big enough that a person could fit right inside."

Victoria frowned, eyes going for the doll beds and back to her partner. "Wouldn't the kids feel someone inside the rabbit doll?"

"That's what we're about to test. Glory Girl, grab the gorilla bed." The white costumed heroine floated towards it without any complaint. She picked up the doll and turned towards Gumshoe expectantly. Lisa nodded. "Now lay down and put the bed on top of you."

"Wait, what?"

"Oh stop nagging and just do it!"

"Fine!" Victoria rolled her eyes, doing as she was told. She disappeared from view as the gorilla bed lay on top of her. Lisa grinned, walked towards it and jumped backwards on top of the bed. Gumshoe felt the bed dip and take her form; she blinked and let out a sigh of content. Turning towards Dunia she nodded.

"Parian is frigging good at making beds! I feel so motivated now to prove her innocence just so she can make me one!"

The mother glared at the detective Cape. "Please take this seriously, Miss Gumshoe."

Lisa got off the bed and Victoria pushed the bed away from her. She got to her feet and looked at her partner with a pointed look. "Yes Gumshoe, take this seriously. Did you have to jump on the damn bed?"

Dunia frowned. "Glory Girl, please…"

Victoria's face flushed at the reprimand. "Sorry."

Lisa rubbed her chin. "So, you felt when I jumped on you, but I didn't feel you at all."

Glory Girl blinked at her and looked down at the bed. "So whoever stole the rabbit was hiding beneath it? Then we just raised the possibility of a robbery! We can use this!"

"Hold your horses Glory Bed." The detective cape smirked at the unimpressed look she received. "We still need to figure out how they got in."

Glory Girl gestured towards the window in the room. "Through there, obviously."

Dunia frowned and shook her head. "That would be tough unfortunately."

The two capes watched the mother go to the window, reaching over the dresser and grasping the handles. She pulled, then cranked it side to side, making loud thumping sounds. Dunia then pushed up and a loud screeching squeal went off, making the capes wince as the mother looked at them with a desperate look.

Gumshoe clicked her tongue. "Damn, there goes that possibility."

Dunia bit her lip. "We once had a thief try to get in, but when they opened the window from outside, it made such a racket that it scared them off."

Victoria raised an eyebrow. "This doesn't look good. Mrs. Dunia, when weren't you home in the last week?"

Parian's mother sighed. "The apartment hasn't been empty the entire week. With the children on winter break and Aleaha and Rayya taking turns helping with the apartment, there hasn't been an opportunity for a...a thief to get in...oh no…!"

The mother looked down, eyes watering and shaking. Lisa hummed, rubbing her chin and walking towards the dresser. She looked behind it, passing a finger on the edge and looked at it intently.

_Dust, dirt, white, dissolving, fast, ash_

Gumshoe turned towards the distraught mother. "When the fire happened, you got out of the apartment right?"

Dunia blinked, then nodded. "Y-Yes, of course. We could never be so irresponsible as to put the lives of the children at risk. Especially with all that smoke, it was covering the entire building! It's a miracle that only the floor above ours got burnt!"

Victoria crossed her arms and then looked alarmed. "Wait a minute, Gumshoe, you think the thief got in during the fire?"

"Yup, look at the ash here." Lisa waggled her stained finger with a grin. "Someone thought things out."

Dunia shook her head. "It doesn't make sense though...the fire happened the night before! How could someone...someone was hiding inside our own home for the entire day!?"

Lisa ignored the shocked woman, pulling her phone and checking the hour. "We're long passed over the five minutes limit. Glory Girl—?"

"I know, I know." Victoria waved off Gumshoe and turned towards the shaky Dunia. "Mrs. Dunia, please calm down. We have to leave."

"Leave…?" The mother repeated the words dumbly, she shook her head. "I can't simply leave my—!?"

The window exploded into thousands of pieces, Dunia screamed loudly and Victoria moved quickly to cover the mother. Lisa gritted her teeth as she watched the fragments break on the floor, with the large rock that had done the deed tumbling near the elephant bed. There was muffled screams through the window. Lisa looked down and saw a group of dozens of shaved, skinny and tattooed men glowering up.

"You're gonna pay for killing our brother you fucking kikes!"

Lisa rolled her eyes. "Morons, do your research before throwing wrong racial slurs."

The sound of hurried steps reached into the room, everyone turned towards one of the family women looking confused and fearful.

"What's going on Dunia!?"

Parian's mother looked at the rock and she paled. Victoria followed her gaze and bristled.

"Fucking original."

The rock used to break the window had an 88 graffiti on it; the paint was still fresh as it dripped on the floor. The women started shaking, and one went back to the living room and started screaming something in Arabic, which was joined by another and the young fearful cries of the children.

Dunia moved to go to the living room, but Lisa's hands snapped towards her shoulder and stopped her.

"I have a question."

Dunia looked at her with wide and wild eyes. "Are you insane!? There's no time fo—!"

"Shut up and answer my question, then you can make all the time you want." Gumshoe let a predatory grin spread on her lips, spooking the mother further. Glory Girl floated nearby and glared at the detective.

"Gumshoe…"

"Just answer me this Dunia, is there any camera around here? Something that could've captured the fire or that window specifically?"

Parian's mother blinked, shaking. "I-I don't know…!"

Lisa grabbed her by the shoulders and looked intently into the mother's eyes. "Think, you need to think. The lives of your family are in complete danger right now, so think and remember. If we can prove there was a theft, then we can trace this back to the real culprits! If we find the culprits, then you're off the lynching list and back to only getting a beating from the Empire Eighty Eight! So think!"

"Gumshoe! Enough! The Empire 88 thugs are moving to go inside the building." Lisa turned towards Victoria, seeing her close to the window again and looking back at her with a frown. "And I'm hearing cars, a few of them. So we might be dealing with a lot of nazis here."

Lisa opened her mouth to say something scathing back at her partner, but stopped when she felt hands grasping her elbows. She looked back at Dunia. The mother was shaking, tears streaming out of her eyes and glaring at her.

"The gas station in front of the apartment, it has two cameras that are always looking at the building."

Gumshoe nodded. "Fantastic, now we need a way to get there, get the cam vids and see who could've jumped into the apartment while the fire was happening."

Glory Girl cracked her knuckles. "Yeah, but we have to get past all those thugs down there to do that."

"Oh yeah that, fuck I hate this part of the job."


	7. Case File: 1.06

_Case File 1_

_Lethal Trends_

—.—

_December 21, 2010. 12:34 PM, Trainyard, Parian's family's apartment._

They reached the third floor, their steps harsh and loud, hands sliding against the old hallway walls. Curses, promises of revenge and torture were shouted, their voices distinct, young and old. Two, four, seven Empire 88 thugs reached the front of Parian's family home door and knocked loudly. Clear gasps of fear reacted to the loud banging.

"Open the fuck up now!" was the muffled demand. Silence was their answer, and not even a second passed before harsh blows hit the door. They stopped for a moment, and the violent blast from a shotgun went off. Then another, then another, then a final one before the door was kicked once more, the sound of wood ripping and metal screeching and echoing followed by a loud thud.

"Come out, come out wherever you are!"

"Or don't! It'll be fun to hunt you animals down!"

Two shotgun blasts went off, threads were ripped, tables were flipped and glass shattered as the thugs looked for Parian's family. They entered into the master bedroom, and the bed was tossed aside, crashing against the door and breaking. Screams of fury went off, hurried footsteps entering the rooms, and shots were fired at the animal beds wildly.

"Where the fuck are they!?"

"Up there! There's a hole in the ceiling!"

"Fuckers think they can escape the Empire Eighty-Eight!? Fuck them!"

"Let's go!"

Down on the second floor apartment room, leaning on antique, dusty desk was Gumshoe. She looked at the ceiling, eyes focused on the punched-in hole, big enough for the others and herself to fit. The butt of the elephant doll bed covered it from view, making the trap set for the thugs above work like a charm.

She turned towards the elderly couple looking at her, the two owners of the apartment room Lisa and the others had escaped to, they were holding each other in the corner of the messy storage room. Her eyes traveled out of the room and to the hall where the huddled bunch of Parian's family stood. The three women were hugging the shaking five children, muttering consoling words to them, calming their sniffling and fear.

Lisa walked out of the room, passing the couple, she winked at them and placed a finger over her lips.

"Don't make a sound…" The two nodded hurriedly at her words. Gumshoe pat one of the kids on the head as she walked, giving the boy a small smirk before she made her way into the living room. Victoria was glaring at the front door of the apartment, tensed and ready, Lisa stopped beside her in a relaxed stance. "Place smells old."

"We can't go down again...they'll definitely feel the vibrations."

"With how stupid they are?"

"We need a distraction."

"And I need a gun."

Victoria looked at her. "A hero with a gun isn't exactly a good image."

"Never claimed to be one. I'm just a simple girl who likes getting to the bottom of things."

Glory Girl nodded. "Sure, how much time do you have with your powers?"

"Give or take about thirty to twenty seconds." Gumshoe looked up again, frowning as the footsteps reached the hallway above.

Victoria turned towards the bundled family. "Everything will be okay, I promise."

Dunia shook her head, tears steaming out. "I-I can't let the children get hurt."

"We won't…!" Rayya hugged two of the five kids tighter as they began to sob. Victoria nodded, looking back at Lisa.

"I'll make an opening for you to escort the family out."

"Not good." She looked back towards the living room window and motioned towards it. "You can hear that right?"

"Another car."

"They're surrounding the building, they don't want to let anyone out."

"So I get to fight then, seems good to me." Glory Girl took out her phone, setting a video call and hit Lisa's contact number.

Gumshoe answered quickly, pulling out two earbuds, she offered one and the white costume hero took it. "There's going to be more just so you know."

"Cape?" Victoria put on the earpiece, securing that it doesn't fall.

"Mmhmm, you appeared in the livestream so it shouldn't be a surprise that one or two would appear." Lisa put on hers, giving her a grin.

"Guesses?"

"We're close to Hookwolf's territory…so he's the one you'll have to worry about."

"I'll have to lead them away."

"Bad idea, they'll start checking the rooms one by one. You'll have to play defense." Lisa took off her fedora, passing a hand over her hair and taking a breath. "You'll have to hold out until the Protectorate move their asses here and even the odds."

"That will be difficult."

"All part of the game." Lisa put her hand in her pockets, pulled out some coins and raised a hand. "I'm tagging you in."

Glory Girl snorted and slapped the hand, taking the quarters. "Be my eyes Holmes."

"Fuck you, don't call me that. I'm not a drug addict."

"Sure." Victoria strapped the phone in her belt, making sure the camera wasn't obscured by anything. She swayed her hips a little, and looked at Gumshoe with a raised brow.

Lisa looked down at her phone, giving thumbs up. "Got good visuals."

"Okay, then. Ready?"

"Go."

Victoria floated back towards the storage room, looking at the scared old couple as she passed. She sent them a reassuring smile and went for the ceiling, pressing an ear to it. When she didn't hear anything she immediately pushed the doll up, passing through the hole she made. Planting her feet back on Parian's apartment she looked around. She flinched as the harsh footsteps echoed above.

"They moved up Gumshoe."

"Well, time to play it rough. Bring down the ceiling."

"...you're crazy."

"Do you want to beat these guys or not?"

"Urgh, fine, but you will help pay for the damages? Right?"

"Yeah, yeah, just get a move on. Another car arrived, there's probably um...twenty or so Empire thugs."

Victoria flew up to the ceiling, moving to the living rooms where the majority of the footsteps were and placed her hands on it. Her fingers dug into ceiling, feeling it crack around her as she began to pull down. Placing one knee on the ceiling, she began to put pressure on it. Spiderweb-like cracks spread out, small pieces starting to fall in her efforts.

"Whoa, what the fuck!? Why the hell is the flo—!?" Some Empire henchmen started screaming but was cut short when Glory Girl finally accomplished her goal and pulled the entire fourth floor down to Parian's family's living room.

Four bodies fell down screaming, trying to reach out for something to hold on. It was a meaningless act as they hit down and pieces of the floor they were standing on crashed into them. Glory Girl paid it no mind, her fingers still holding onto two chunks of the ceiling and tensed as she heard shouts from the burnt up apartment room.

Two thugs came out from the large master bedroom and pointed at her. "Shoot!" Guns aimed at her head, triggers were pulled and bullets were sent flying.

Glory Girl reacted fast, flying forward and using the two chunks of debris as shields. Her makeshift shield barely held off three bullets before she was upon them and smashed into them, the debris breaking apart as she sent the thugs flying back.

"What the hell is going on!?" Glory Girl heard another shout from the room right over and moved, smashing against it and shoulder tackling the henchmen into the next wall. She dusted her shoulders and floated back to the living room.

"Gumshoe, what's happening?"

"I'm hearing footsteps going up, wait, I'm taking a peek and...yup, you got four coming for you. I suggest doing the same tactic you did earlier, grab the front door and sling it at them."

"On it!" Glory Girl flew fast, smashing against the door and taking it off the hinges. She turned to go down the hall, and was met by surprised shouts and gunshots. She flinched and pushed the door away from her, sending it barreling towards the gunmen.

Only one of the four mentioned thugs managed to dive back to the stairs, the others got hit by the flying door and were knocked out. Glory Girl didn't stop in her movements, rounding the stairs and delivering a kick towards the final henchmen there. The man was sent flying, but she caught him by his leg and grabbed his gun before it could clutter on the floor.

"Two more are going up, Glory Kicks."

Flying fast she went to the floor below and hid behind the corner with the man still in her grasp. Two gunmen ran up quickly to the third floor with her, turning to head up one more floor to get in on the action.

Glory Girl reacted fast and swung the unconscious man in her grasp at the hurrying thugs, and a scream of shock escaped them as they fell on the floor. She swung her leg and kicked the two disoriented men into unconsciousness. She nodded to herself, then looked down at the stairs.

"I'm heading for you."

"Coast is clear, so—!"

A loud crash hit the building, making the entire structure shake. Glory Girl heard through the earbud the surprised gasp of Lisa, the frightful cries of the children and anxious breaths of the adults there. There was another rumbling, concrete being ripped away and crushed.

"What's going on!?"

"Cape!" Gumshoe grunted, hurried steps came through the earpiece, Lisa was shuffling nervously and muttering. "Well he got here quick…! Fuck, I can see that bladed freak standing on his feet…!"

"Hookwolf!?"

"Fuck!" There was a loud crash, a window broke and a wall broke apart. "He just punched through the living room wall!"

"Shit, I'll take him on! Get out of there!" Glory Girl was already flying, heading for the window.

"Bad idea!"

The window broke as Glory Girl punched it, flew up and passed over the rooftop at top speeds. "Well think of something! Because I don't think you're in a good spot right now!"

She got to the edge of the roof and dived bomb down onto the sharp, bladed, grey wolf monster smacking against the building, claws dragging parts of it down to the streets. Hands clenched into fists and pulled forward, Glory Girl dropped on top Hookwolf. The floor gave out as it cracked and tore, a cloud of dust and debris rose from the effort.

Glory Girl rolled out of the destruction and glared at the flailing metal beast, before it settled back on all fours, glaring at her. Victoria took a deep breath, hands clenching and her knees bending as she waited for her forcefield to reform.

"We're moving Glory Girl, everyone is trying to get out. You'll have to keep them off the building."

Victoria hummed. "I'll do my best, just get out of here—!"

Hookwolf leapt at her, his roar one of screeching metal. It vibrated deep into her bones as Glory Girl readied herself to meet the charge head on.

—.—

The building shook violently, dust loosening up and falling. Gumshoe stumbled a little, bracing herself against the wall. Her gaze went for the family she was escorting, seeing them on the floor and shaking.

"Get up, no time to waste!" she shouted at them, as she watched another door being kicked open and its occupants run out in abject fear. Parian's family got to their feet and began moving as she took point.

Leading them towards the stairs, the others running ahead were jumping or skipping steps to hurry. But one individual broke the pattern and stepped up, meeting her gaze with a small smirk. Gumshoe skidded to a stop as she watched the flawless, completely white looking man walk towards her. He sneered at her.

"Hey there, race traitor. Helping those bunch of fucking terrorists? How fucking horrible of you, you cunt."

The family behind Lisa whimpered as they saw the man cutting their path off. Lisa groaned and shook her head.

"You make it hard to take you seriously when you act like such a cartoon villain, Alabaster."

The Empire 88 Cape snarled, tensing up as he glared at her with his pupiless eyes.

"You won't be so flippant with me after I'm done with you, private dick."

Gumshoe gritted her teeth, readying herself for a fight.


	8. Case File: 1.07

_Case File 1_

_Lethal Trends_

—.—

_December 21, 2010. 12:38 PM, Trainyard, Parian's family's apartment._

Alabaster was your typical racist, the one you would see in a comic or a period-piece movie. The completely ivory man was very easy to hate because of this; there were countless people of ethnic minorities hurt, mutilated and crippled because of him. The white villain was a bastard through and through, and dangerous because of how difficult it was to actually keep him down.

_I need to corner him._ Lisa took into consideration what she had read of him, of his powers and typical tactics. His power was one that restored him by the set intervals of 4.3 seconds, meaning no damage would be permanent. It was what made him unrelenting and reckless. He had the luxury of running ahead and fighting with abandon, because there was nothing one could do to actually keep him at bay.

He was more of a delaying tactic than anything. With no offensive power, it was the perfect role for him. And her worst type of opponent.

Gumshoe's eyes snapped back towards the scared family behind her and she grunted, forcing a grin on her face. _I need time, a position to let them run away and keep Alabaster here._

"I'm surprised you're here Alabaster…" Gumshoe spread her arms wide, herding the family to move alongside her to the left. "Weren't you trying to hook up with Purity after her break up with the Empire Eighty-Eight? Wait don't tell me, I can guess that she told you to flock off like every other chick did, you pale freak. Came to test your luck with a teenager?"

The racist cape sneered, stalking forward and ignoring her attempts to make space for an escape. "I'm going to rip that tongue of yours out and use it to wipe my ass clean."

"Disgusting, you should really look up those books for dummies on how to pick up chicks?" Lisa smirked at the success of her goading gambit. She forgoed the herding tactic and reached for the knife she had taken from the apartment of the elderly couple. Bringing it out, she held it in a reverse grip. "But hey, I'm a nice white all American blonde girl. I'll help you out, got a black friend who—!?"

"Cunt!" The Empire cape roared as he charged forward, and Lisa stood her ground, knife poised to stab the incoming enemy. When he was a few feet away from her, he pulled his right fist back and unleashed a haymaker. In response, she dropped her weapon. Alabaster's gaze followed the weapon for a split second, and that was all the time Lisa needed as she grabbed the extended arm, whirled around and judo threw him towards the apartment door to her right with all the strength she could muster.

The cape yelped in surprise at the sudden attack, and his body crashed against the wooden door, cracking and denting it. Lisa cursed when it didn't break fully, turning towards the family behind her and gesturing roughly.

"Go!" Dunia grabbed two of the kids and began running, the other women doing the same with the remaining children. Lisa watched them run for the stairs, but the loud creak and stomping forced her gaze back on Alabaster as he lunged at her.

Gumshoe rolled on the floor, dodging the attack. Grabbing the knife, she swiped blindly into her blind spot, but missed as Alabaster pulled back. He kicked her on the chin and she saw stars. The air escaped her lungs as her back crashed against the floor, spitting blood, and her hand went for her abused chin.

The villain didn't relent, grabbing her by the scruff of her coat and swinging her towards the very same door she had thrown him in retaliation. She gasped, feeling the air escape her as the villain's pressed against her throat and pushed her further into the broken door. He punched her, the stomach, collarbone and left cheek, it left her brain rattling. He kneed her on the stomach again and she felt bile rise up, she dumped it all on him. Snarling at this he pulled her back and slammed her against the door, he did two more times until it finally broke.

The two fell, Lisa reacted fast and stabbed Alabaster through his ribs. She grabbed onto the arm holding her, digging her nails into his skin. Her coat rip as they slid through the floor, and pieces of splintered wood punctured her clothes.

The knife stabbed deeper into Alabaster, blood drenched her hand and coat, it was even worse when the blade dragged down with the movement. He growled, glared at her with his white soulless eyes, elbowed her in the chest and used the momentum to flip away from her.

Lisa cough from the abuse, turning around slowly on the floor, glaring at the cape with short breaths and gasps. She put a hand on her bruised chest, left eye closing slightly as her cheek began to swell. The Empire cape snarled and hissed as he ripped the knife out of his body, not through pain but out of frustration. For a couple of seconds they stood still, then the villain's injuries disappeared and he was restored back to his pristine self.

Gumshoe stood up on shaky legs, catching her breath as she kept looking at the enemy cape. She took everything around her into consideration, anything that would help her in this.

_Broken door, splinters, large pieces sharp, _

_Can pierce human, can't pierce floor, walls—_

She shook her head, cutting that line of thinking. Taking a step to her right, she kept the cape in her line of sight as he humored her and started counterclock to her.

_Livingroom, same size as Parian's apartment, position of furniture different_

_Sofa, 2 meters, full of pillows, good padding, back leg, left, missing, bad balance,_

_Floor, glistening, wet, was being clean, smell of disinfectant, mop, near window_

_Kitchen, fridge, old, plastic exterior, chipped edge, 3 layers of hard plastic, metal layer underneath, for magnetic—_

Lisa cut off her power, feeling the tail-sign of a migraine forming. She stopped moving, tense with her back to the sofa. Alabaster sneered, reached into his pocket and pulling out a gun. Her eyes widened and jumped back, hitting the sofa and making it stumble back. She breathed hard as two bullets were fired and hit the furniture.

Gumshoe moved, crawling away fast and grabbed a discarded pillow. Hearing stomps, she count them and without looking back threw it just as Alabaster jumped up on the edge of the flipped sofa. It hit him in the face and disrupted his aiming as he fired, missing her by inches. She got on all four and lunged into the kitchen, using the wet floor to make slide towards. Another gunshot and it caught her left arm.

A muffled scream tore through her throat, but adrenaline and the desire to not die kept her moving. She rolled close to the fridge, grabbed the handle and opened the door just in time for three more shots to be fired. Gumshoe was breathing hard, seeing red, yellow and white condiments splash on the floor and her makeshift cover punctured by one bullet.

She heard his footsteps, counting them and making sure to keep in mind how loud they got as Alabaster got near her. She grabbed the edge of the back of the fridge, put her foot on the wall and looked up. Gumshoe saw white hair and pulled, using her foot to push off against the wall and tip the fridge down.

"Fuck!" As the villain was crushed underneath the refrigerator, Gumshoe jumped over it and glared. The fridge rattled as it was lifted up. Alabaster reached out for the discarded gun a few feet away, try to slide out of his entrapment to grasp it. Lisa kicked it away towards the living room, and near the hall that lead to the bedrooms.

She made to followed after it, hoping to bait the villain into following her. The fridge was roughly pushed aside just as she jumped over the flipped sofa and slowed down when she was a few feet away from the window. The villain roared, and Lisa turned around back just in time to see him rushing towards her. Facing him, Lisa braced herself as he tackled her, shoulders knocking onto her stomach and driving her towards the ground.

She reacted fast, letting herself drop like she had done before, but this time making sure to put her knee in his stomach and roll with the momentum. Using that, she kicked and sent the Empire cape sprawling until his back met the edge of the window with a sickening crunch.

Gumshoe rolled to her feet, breathing hard at the effort and seeing the cape body bent awkwardly. A jagged piece of glass poked out through his abdomen. He glared hatefully at her. She wasted no time to capitalize on the short advantage she managed to muster and ran towards him, kicking the back of his head with all her strength. His body bent forward, the glass cutting deeper into him, but she ignored this as she shoulder checked his back and threw him out of the second story window.

She stumbled forward, gasping and shaking as she watched the Alabaster lay down on the now cracked pavement, not moving. 4 seconds passed and he was back to his pristine self, he looked up at her with a vicious snarl. She whirled around, ignoring him and went for the gun she had kicked away.

She started jogging for the apartment entrance, a sharp pain from the gunshot wound in her left arm rose up. It made her stumble as she hissed, stepping into the hall outside. Putting one finger on her ear as a hiss escaped her.

"Glory Girl...Parian's family is getting out of the building, keep them safe."

—.—

"I'll try!"

Glory Girl floated above the cracked and broken street, her white costume marred and cut, the cape covering her exposed arms as she moved back. Her forcefield was down, again, as Hookwolf lunged for her. The metal wolf's body screeched, blades scraping as it tried to claw at her.

Left, right, down, up, bite, tail swipe, Hookwolf attacks was relentless, the street pavement was ripped and crushed under the assault. Glory Girl kept on the defensive, moving back and dodging, counting the seconds for when her forcefield would comeback. Her back hit a car and trapping her between a hard place and a monster.

_Forcefield's back! _She immediately switched from defensive to offensive, fingers stabbing into the car's front door and twirled. The motion had her ripped it off, using it as a shield for the downward swipe from the cape Empire cape. The door was destroyed, claws getting stuck on the destroyed car piece and missing Glory Girl by inches.

With Hookwolf on all four, Glory Girl flew forward, going underneath his hulking body, and unleashed a powerful elbow blow. The metal wolf roared as it surge upward, trying to swipe at the once more vulnerable Glory Girl. She dodged and flew upwards, arcing away from the mad cape as it crashed against the sidewalk.

She stopped, looking at the apartment building she was defending. The cars that the Empire Eighty-Eight had used to arrive in were flipped or crushed, littered around the apartment building. The crackling of fire served as an ambient song for the chaos around, with the gunshots aimed at her as large crescendos of danger. Her eyes nervously went towards the gas station, glad that even the neo nazis were sensible enough to keep their fire away from it.

The building itself was slightly damaged, the entrance caved in, with only a small hole through the debris allowing for escape. She focused and saw Parian's family and a few others kneeling behind a car, looking scared and small.

Thugs were running for them, using the crushed and parked cars as cover. The oldest one was leading the charge with the younger ones behind him. Their weapons were poised and ready to fire, the two followers looking excited and full of anger.

_Like hell_. Glory Girl dived down after them. She reached them just as her forcefield returned and shoulder checked one of the younger gunmen, sending him crashing into the other one and against the car a few meters away. The older thug turned in surprise, aiming at her, she kicked him quick and sent him sprawling through the street floor.

Shots were fired against her in retaliation for her assault, she crouched to avoid the bullets, using the cars as cover. She gritted her teeth and glared at the direction where the firing was coming from.

The violent trembling and loud thumps made her look just as Hookwolf raised his claws. She flew back, avoiding the crash, she stopped when she felt the car behind her and the two unconscious thugs underneath her feet. The metal cape growled, slamming its head on the street pavement, then charged. Glory Girl reacted quick, bending she grabbed the thugs and flung herself to the side avoiding the attack.

She flew a few meters high, glaring at Hookwolf. A bullet passed by her head, making her recoil, a second one hit her arm and killed her forcefield. Growling she hurled the two henchmen in her hands back to where the bullets were fired. Her two human projectiles crashed against two skinheads, one of them discharged their shotgun at her.

She dived down just in time to avoid getting killed, the spread shot catching her thigh and making her scream. Losing focus on where to stop her flight, she crashed against the floor and kept sliding through the ground. She came to a stop beside a black jeep and she heard the heavy thumps of Hookwolf as it ran at her and—

_Forcefield is back._

She wasted no time in clawing at the Jeep, fingers digging deep into the vehicle, and swung it like a bat. It hit the metal wolf nazi on the face and sent it sprawling back on the floor. Using that very momentum, she got the car to act as a shield for the gunmen behind her, protecting herself from their assault, and with gritted teeth she charged forward.

The shooters screamed in fright as the large car approached them fast, and they turned and ran. Glory Girl rose up, avoiding killing them with the Jeep, and kicked them on the back of their heads, knocking them out. She looked as they slid on the ground with a frown, and turned to see Hookwolf recover from her last hit.

"Glory Girl, need help! Alabaster is coming directly for the targets!"

The flying hero whirled to the front of the building, seeing Gumshoe with a single hand point a gun down the sidewalk. She followed to where she was aiming and saw the white cape sprinting at top speeds for her. He got shot on the shoulder, he ignored it as he rolled through the floor and grabbed a discarded shotgun. The wound disappeared not even a second later.

_He'll survive this. _Glory Girl reacted, throwing the Jeep at him at full force. Alabaster cocked the weapon, just as the errant vehicle hit him, spearing him through the building.

"Problem solved! Now move it!"

The familiar bang of a gun being fired reached her ears, and her forcefield popped again. She took a deep harsh breath, then turned around as she drifted to her right as fast as she could. Two more bangs and she fell to the ground, the searing pain of gunshot wounds making her scream in agony. She hissed, feeling the searing pain in her left thigh and shoulder.

"Glory Girl!"

_Worry about me now… _Victoria looked around and saw the one who had shot her. Hiding behind a car was a kid about her age, aiming his gun at her with cold intent. Fortunately his focus was snapped away by the following gunshots sent his way, forcing him back into hiding behind the crumple car.

She sighed in relief, forcefield coming back, but it was killed once more when she got tackled by the bladed Empire cape into the floor. She gasped, eyes wide as felt the cold air on her back. The floor besides her exploded and she froze as her entire body was covered in shadows.

Turning to look up at Hookwolf, she could only stared with wide eyes as the metal paw was raised. Roaring, Hookwolf swiped down to kill her.

"Victoria!"

Victoria Dallon just closed her eyes, thoughts freezing and not even capable of thinking of anything in time. There was so much she wanted to do and say, so many things to fix and solve. But she could only lay there with her eyes closed and tensed up.

A loud clunk made her flinched, eyes still closed, she raised her hands to defend herself but found they impacted something hard. _Armor…?_ Opening her eyes she looked up in surprise, and her body deflated from relief.

The spartan costumed hero, Dauntless, knelt above her with his shield held over his head, crackling and sparking as it held Hookwolf's attack. In his other hand he held his lightning spear, the Arclance, aimed at the stomach of the metal wolf. He looked down at her and nodded.

"You okay?"

Victoria let a small laugh and nodded. "I am now."

Dauntless nodded, then thrust his weapon against Hookwolf, the spear bursting to life unleashing lighting and electrifying the metal cape away. The loud crash that went off as Hookwolf smashed against a light post was deafening.

It was followed by the loud sirens and rumblings of engines as the PRT vans arrived. The doors opened and poured out officers, all armed with riot shields and aiming their weapons at the Empire Eighty-Eight thugs all around. Armsmaster arrived last on his bike, swerving right in front of the apartment building and getting off.

"**Put your weapons down! You're all under arrest!"**

His voice came out loud, a function in his blue armor amplifying it to become booming and larger than what it really was. Victoria didn't care, she just let herself lie on the floor and closed her eyes. Her finger went for the earpiece and she grumbled.

"Saved…"

"Yeah...though I would've preferred it if it had been only Dauntless that had arrived."

"Don't complain."

"I'm not complaining, just making a minor observation…yeah don't worry miss Dunia, you'll be safe for now."

Victoria tilted her head and looked at the scared civilians come out of hiding. Amongst them was Parian's family, and PRT officers came to them all, taking them to the vans for medical assistance. Dunia looked back at her and gave her a look only a mother could give.

Victoria felt a pang. _Ah mom, I wonder what you'll do when you see me now. _She ignored her brooding and waved at Gumshoe, before her hand fell to her sides. Her view was obscured when Armsmaster stepped in front of her and looked down at her.

"I hope you two realize how much trouble you're in."


	9. Case File: 1.08

_Case File 1_

_Lethal Trends_

—.—

_December 21, 2010. 12:57 PM, Trainyard, Parian's family's apartment._

Lisa groaned, looking at her bandaged left arm. She tried to raise it up, but the pain from the bullet wound caused her to give up the attempt. She leaned back, using her uninjured arm to support herself on the floor of the PRT truck.

_What a clusterfuck…_

She looked around at the messed up street. Cars were being pushed to the side by the sidewalk, near the evacuated apartment building and away from the gas station. Her eyes focused on the small business place, letting out a relieved sigh. The Empire henchmen seemed to have been smart enough that they didn't aim their weapons at the gasoline station and blow everyone to kingdom come.

An officer passed beside her, carrying a box of medical equipment. Her eyes followed after him, her gaze stopping at the sight of Victoria's boots peeking out of another PRT truck. She bit her lower lip, feeling her heart quicken. She slid out of her sitting position and walked briskly towards her partner.

She stopped beside the truck, watching Glory Girl lying down with a PRT medic by her side. The officer wrapped a bandage around the hero's exposed shoulder, the blonde heroine wincing at the treatment. Gumshoe just let her eyes roam over the injured form of her partner and clicked her tongue.

"You're a fucking moron, you know that."

Victoria's eyes flickered towards her and sighed. "You're angry…"

"I'm not angry, I'm just...annoyed how stupid you are."

"I did what I could considering we were dealing with dozens of armed thugs. So drop the attitude, because you sure as hell wouldn't do any better."

Lisa scoffed at the words, drawing a glare. "I wouldn't have let myself get shot the hell up."

"Says the girl with a bullet wound in her arm."

"One...only one."

"That's such a stupid argument and you know it!" The medic stopped working on Victoria, placing a hand on her uninjured shoulder and shook his head.

"Don't move too much Glory Girl, or you'll aggravate the wound." The medic turned towards Lisa. "Gumshoe, can you keep an eye on her? I have others to attend to."

"Sure." Lisa nodded, the medic stepped off the truck at the confirmation. Grabbing his med kit and walked away to where a group of civilians were. The capes watched him go, with Victoria groaning and starting to levitate. She righted herself off the truck and floated in front of Lisa. She winced, shakily looking down at her injuries.

"Fuck this hurts a lot."

Lisa snorted. "Getting shot does that. And the medic told you not to move, didn't he."

"Smartass, I haven't moved, I'm just lying on the air." Victoria blinked at her and then hummed. "Hey, seems that the doc who checked you has some fine taste with fashion. He finally made you get rid of that horrid coat of yours."

"Fuck me, you're still on that? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Blame the pain killers."

"You haven't taken them long enough for them to start working their magic, Glory Freak."

"Brat, you call me a freak for worrying about how you look, ungrateful bitch." Victoria blinked and looked down at her. She gestured at her pockets. "Where's the—!"

"Shhh!" Lisa looked over Victoria's shoulder, causing the flyer to turn in time to see Armsmaster approach them. "Here comes part two of the fight…"

Glory Girl glared. "Don't make it worse."

The blue armored hero stopped right before them, head tilted up and mouth twisted into a frown. The two girls looked at the man, Lisa herself crossing her arms and letting out a small curse at the pain from her bullet wound. She recovered quickly, putting on the best unimpressed face she could muster to save face.

Lisa didn't like Armsmaster — well, she didn't like a lot of people. Anytime she didn't keep a rein on her powers and looked at any image or video or even the hero himself, it would go through high leaps and loops to tell her the worst case scenario about the man. It didn't help that the first time she crossed paths with him, her power hadn't been entirely wrong.

He trained, he tinkered and he did everything necessary to become a compelling and strong hero. He was the very definition of a hard worker, he was someone to aspire to be. The perfect example to prove that trying your best would yield results. _But he's a gloryhound._

It was a deep personal fault of character. Her powers had told her so and he had shown it time and time again. Little things, like the smile and slight pose he put on only when the cameras were looking at him. The stubborn and gruff voice softening and compromising on things he had made clear he wouldn't relent on when the right person pulled out a phone or was within hearing range. Or the entire fucking fiasco that was the Shadow Stalker case, and the Vista one too.

She hadn't liked him from the beginning and she didn't like him now. The need to be confrontational and mocking was like vomit rising up her throat, difficult to keep down and she had no choice but to spew it all. It was almost second nature by now, hurling backhanded insults or just thinking of the best speeches she could come up with as to why he and all the other heroes sucked.

Victoria was the only reason she hadn't completely nuked her bridges. If it weren't for the floating girl beside her, Lisa very clearly knew that her career as Gumshoe was be as good as dead.

Glory Girl could rein Gumshoe in, just as Gumshoe could focus Glory Girl towards her goal.

So Lisa looked at Victoria, took in her pleading glance and sighed. "What do you want Armsmaster?"

"What do I want? I want many things, Gumshoe." The man's voice was curt, without much emotion. "I want for this case to go through smoothly towards its trial day without any hiccups. I want for Parian's identity to have never gotten leaked. I want for the Empire Eighty-Eight to have never taken up arms about the murder this morning. I want for the two of you to have listened to me and never gotten involved in the first place. I want many more things, but I don't think they are of your interest."

Victoria bit her lip; the clear bitter and disapproving tone of the older hero was affecting her. "Are you going to put the blame for the fight on us, Armsmaster?"

Lisa interjected before the man could speak. "I would like to add that blaming us for this is stupid. Especially since we kept every single civilian safe and away from getting killed. Hurt? Sure, but no one died."

"Yes, if that's your assessment then you two did well enough in keeping civilians lives from being lost. Unfortunately you two completely failed at everything else." He gestured around at the battered streets and damaged buildings. "I won't blame you for failing at this of course. Glory Girl's failings reflect on the poor management and training from New Wave…"

"...!" Lisa twitched, feeling an awe inspiring sentiment for Victoria at that moment. She turned and glared at her partner, and the floating cape bit her lip and reined back her aura. The two turned towards the tense Armsmaster, noting his head was tilted down and his arms were rigid.

"That display just proves my point." He turned away from Victoria, his face twisting into something of frustration. "And you're no better. A cape with no affiliation to anyone, thinking that she can play detective and interfere with ongoing cases. Meddling with the jobs of officials and muddying the details."

"You say I muddied it up, but I still found the truth in the cases I've been involved with."

"And yet you have failed in proving two of those cases, and they blew up spectacularly in court."

Lisa's face twitched in annoyance. "Everyone sure loves bringing that stuff up don't they."

"And with good reason!" were the firm words from Armsmaster. "A normal civilian or worker failing doesn't go to the media unless the failure is on a catastrophic level. A single cape failing has the entire United States' eyes scrutinizing the event. Interest to see what type of failure, forums discussing it, video essays explaining their viewpoints and poisoning the opinions of thousands or even millions of their viewers. A single failure can mean so much when it comes from a Parahuman. And when that failure comes from you two…?"

Victoria sighed, rubbing her face with her good arm. "Because we started getting involved with courts and lawyers…"

"Glory Girl's connection to New Wave protects her somewhat from the scrutiny, because she belongs to a hero group whose whole movement inspires accountability between Capes. So when Glory Girl fails, it will be immediately be rectified and covered by the actions and words of Lady Photon and whatever legal issues are handled by attorney Carol Dallon. As long as her actions and mistakes are as Glory Girl alone, then her failings can be covered up. But if she's affiliated with a known rogue cape? A cape like Gumshoe who has no connection to anyone, whose actions from the very beginning have been to make a mockery of the police department, the court and the PRT with her constant show off attitude? It becomes murky, more difficult to handle, and it starts to inspire others."

Lisa narrowed her eyes at the words, but stayed silent. Victoria on the other hand didn't, hands clenched and floating closer to the hero.

"That's right, New Wave fights for the accountability of other capes, to become responsible for their actions and the consequences that come from them. That's why we couldn't let Parian's case go! We know she's innocent an—!"

Armsmaster crossed his arms, cocking his head to the side. "Innocent, right. Tell me, do you have proof? Do you have any evidence that could back up that claim aside from conjectures?"

Both girls looked at each other, Victoria winced and Lisa felt the piece she had taken from the crime scene earlier feel heavier in her pant pockets. Glory Girl shook her head, looking intently at the older man.

"No we don't. But that doesn't mean that we won't find it! We've done so in the past!"

"And it's been nothing but a few hours," Lisa ground out, her face still set into a bored expression. "This one has been nothing but one bad clusterfuck followed by another. You know, just like everyone knows that when we get involved we can work for an entire week just to get all the evidence needed and **submit** them to the authorities."

Her emphasis wasn't missed by the capes there. Armsmaster let out a low grumble and he shook his head. Lisa didn't suppress the smirk that spread through her lips. She didn't need her powers to tell her what the older man was doing, to throw every little failure back at them and make them buckle. It would affect Victoria, because she was someone who took this sort of lashing out as failures.

But not Lisa; she knew when someone was using this sort of tactic to hurt someone. She was, after all, fond of using it against the worst kind of criminals, and often did so in fights. It was a good tactic if you wanted to get something from someone; just beat them down emotionally and then negotiate what you want.

It wouldn't work here. Armsmaster seemed to have realized that now as he focused on her. He squared his shoulders, posture stiff and Lisa's smirk turned into a grin. She already had a retort on the tip of her tongue waiting to be unleashed the moment the hero turned and left with a huff. But the man didn't leave, he focused squarely on her, his teeth nearly bared at her.

"You don't get it, you're too thick headed and arrogant to get it."

Lisa shrugged. "Then make me understand. What is it that I'm missing exactly?"

"Everything! All of this! And the entire family you put in danger for your recklessness!" Armsmaster's control and restraint were coming loose. "It's because of you two that Parian's family was exposed to danger. It was because of your foolishness that Parian's identity was compromised! It was because of you two that reparations for this square block and the building have to be paid!"

Victoria flinched, looking down. She was grinding her teeth, breathing hard and a shine of nervous sweat coated her forehead. "We didn't know about the livestream, we found out way too late! We didn't even know that they got a camera inside the PRT to spy on Parian. You can't blame us for that. Fuck...fuck why the hell didn't you have someone checking the family and protecting them!?"

Armsmaster crossed his arms, and despite only his mouth being exposed, Lisa could see the smugness being directed at them.

"You two are the ones playing detectives. Now why wouldn't the PRT put a protective detail on Parian's family?"

Glory Girl looked distraught and frustrated, her eyes narrowing as she took his question into consideration. Lisa herself had already thought of the bizarreness of the entire case, and the lack of some form of security for the family was something she already had made conclusions about.

Why wouldn't they protect them? Why leave them so exposed? And why put the blame on them? It made sense in some twisted way as it being their fault, but it wasn't their responsibility. _But it isn't about responsibility, now is it? No, it's the fact that they had been found out and we had been followed without noticing at all. We've been followed and recorded from the very—!_

Lisa blinked as she came to her answer. "You didn't want to draw attention to them."

Armsmaster seemed a little taken aback by the response, but he nodded nonetheless. "Humph, you're correct."

Victoria let out a loud curse and rubbed her face roughly with her good hand. "Fuck, fuck, that makes too much sense now...you didn't want this to happen or to spread out into a big shoot out or whatever through the streets…"

"Yes, we were drafting a public message to be released at one p.m. With the message would be released, we would've sent a small extraction team and moved the family to a safe house. But that plan is now defunct and non-viable…" Armsmaster crossed his arms and shook his head. "It would seem that everything else will have to be revised now."

That caught their attention. Victoria was quicker in getting out of her stupor. "Revised? You're talking like if this were a show…"

Something clicked inside Lisa's head at those words. The bizarreness of the case, the sloppy handling and the reveal of the gamble the PRT had taken with Parian's family. There were lines she started to connect and a few things were starting to make sense.

_If I could use my power right now I could connect all the damn dots quicker. _But she wasn't only her powers, and her time as Gumshoe had taught her some things. She could deduce the truth with all the clues she currently had.

The response to the murder had happened quick; officers and PRT personnel had probably arrived as soon as they saw the body was nothing but a bloody smear. But their actions afterwards were weird, staying there for nearly two hours or more. They were deliberately wasting time, keeping the attention of the situation on them while they managed to sneakily arrest Parian from her home.

_They knew her identity before hand, they're not playing the game fairly now are they? _The entire case was filled with misdirections and falsehood, more than the typical case with cover ups to avoid the gavel of the law from squishing the guilty party. No, there had been a plot here, a game.

There was a power struggle, but for what? To get Parian into the fold, obviously, the PRT in Brockton Bay would benefit from having another cape. They would benefit, and—!

"Oh…" Lisa pulled back slightly, and her partner looked back at her with questioning eyes.

"What? Gumshoe what is it?"

The detective cape ignored her and focused on Armsmaster, a sardonic smirk spreading across her face. "You know, this why I don't like you or your type Armsmaster. You people can be so fucking hypocritical, dressing up and calling yourselves heroes but then going and pulling all this political bullshit for no reason but to soothe the damn PR."

The blue armored hero snorted, turning his nose up at her. "Is that what you call it?"

Lisa snorted. "That's exactly what it is."

Victoria let out a sigh. "Gumshoe…"

"What I'm trying to say Glory Girl, is that the PRT weren't as incompetent as I would like to believe. They're just pretty manipulative, because they know Parian is innocent."

Victoria's nose flared as she rounded a glare at the armored hero. Armsmaster snapped fast to a response. "So you claim. The evidence paints a very clear picture of who was behind the murder."

"The fuck is wrong with you!?" Victoria got to the older hero's face and glared. "If you know she's innocent, stop fucking around with her life! Why are you holding her if she hasn't done anything wrong!?"

"Because the PRT wants another cape in their mixed, forcing a rogue like Parian to join the PRT would boost their personnel of capes and strength when dealing with villains." Lisa rubbed her chin as she thought about the situation. "All it takes is bending the rules and they have a multi-purpose cape that can manipulate fibers to act like armor when in battle and has been shown to be kid friendly. Oh whoa...that's actually devious as all hell. It wouldn't matter at all if Parian was convicted as guilty, because who would care? She killed a nazi, all the PRT would need to do is spin the tale of heroics and how she's learning how to be a safer hero and voila, you have yourself a cape without any of the drawbacks of Shadow Stalker."

Armsmaster hummed. "Conjecture at best."

_Yeah, and shaky as all hell. _Lisa's nose twitched slightly in annoyance. _A lot of that was just trying to see if I could catch you with your pants down. But that helmet doesn't help at all. Still seems I'm thinking on the right lines._

Glory Girl was seething. "Why the hell would you do something like that to her? She's an innocent person, she doesn't deserve to go through all that bullshit just to get another cape on your payroll."

"No, she doesn't deserve any of that if what you're saying is in fact true. But as you don't have any proof of anything you have said, then it is merely speculation. So let me continue under this line of speculation so you may get a better idea of what it truly means if what Gumshoe saying were to ever happen." Armsmaster relaxed slightly as he looked at the girls.

"Oh, I wanna listen to this." Lisa rolled her eyes.

"The benefits of what Parian would get under the circumstances are indeed quite positive. She would be inducted into the Protectorate ranks under a probationary role with pay that will be determined by the director of whichever branch she is meant to serve. Her family would be moved to whatever city she is working in and would receive a home to accommodate them. The PRT would even have a protective detail watching over them in case any villain organization should decide to take vengeance on the cape in question." Armsmaster crossed his arms and looked at the family huddled together by the sidewalk, PRT officers over them and checking for injuries on the children. "With time Parian's crime would fade into the past and she would become a hero to be admired. With all the benefits of her family being safe, protected and with jobs to help them in their future."

Victoria's nose wrinkled, her distaste clear. "That's...that's fucked up! How can you seriously stand there and say that with a straight face!? You're ruining her life just to get another cape into the PRT!?"

"Ruining her life?" Armsmaster sounded genuinely confused. "We'd be offering her a better life. A more stable future. A mere mark in her record for all the benefits, is that a bad deal?"

"Nope…" Lisa interjected, popping the 'p' as she looked around at the devastated streets, focusing on the spot where Hookwolf had been a few minutes ago before he had made a hasty escape. She shrugged. "To be honest, that's a pretty good deal. You give Parian everything she could ever want and cover your bases on the fact that you have a bitter cape under your thumb. But who cares if she's resentful when you basically bought her gratefulness, right? All it takes is to bend the law a little and you get everything you want out of this case."

"That's...messed up, goddamnit! Armsmaster you have to realize that this is fucked up! Where's the justice for Parian? Why break everything the PRT stands for?"

"Hypothetically speaking…" Armsmaster turned away from them, shrugging and shaking his head. "Everything the PRT stands for isn't being broken. Parian is getting her justice, a better life and new opportunities. It gives her the best outcome in this scenario and for what comes next. That's the correct answer."

Victoria snarled. "The fuck it is! That isn't right at all!"

Lisa hummed. "For what comes next…?"

The older hero started walking away. "Enough, don't get involved in this case anymore. Or next time I'll make sure to put the two of you in a cell for obstruction of the law."

With that the man walked away, leaving one curious cape and another furious one. Lisa rubbed her chin and grinned.

"Seems like there's a couple of new mysteries coming in the future. This should be interesting."

Glory Girl whirled around towards her, eyes wide and jaw open. "Are you being real right now? What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"What?"

"Did you listen to a word that came out of that prick's mouth!?"

"Well yeah, or are you forgetting I was deducing most of the shit he was throwing between the lines? Fuck I just wish I hadn't used up the limit in my powers, I don't feel like going through a killer headache when we can solve the Parian case today. Maybe if I'm careful I could use it to drag more details out of him?" Lisa bit her thumb, eyes shifting from left to right. "Shit, does the USB have anything to do with this?"

"Hey!" Lisa blinked and looked at the bemused expression of Victoria. "Drop the speculation for right now and...and…"

Lisa sighed, scratching her long messy blonde hair. She recognized that distraught look. "Stop overthinking things so much, Glory Girl. You're no help to anyone when you get like this."

"The hell do you want me to do!? Everything that came out his mouth, it was wrong!"

"But correct in a lot of ways." Lisa grinned as she took a page out of the older hero's vocabulary.

"How is it correct!?"

"Rationally thinking, it makes sense that they got Parian to plead guilty. She doesn't want to, she knows she's innocent, but if they were to present her with all this reasoning and more? Fuck, I would take the plea."

Victoria looked at her in complete disbelief, then scoffed. "Fuck...fuck…!"

"Starting to make sense?"

"It isn't right at all. Armsmaster...the PRT are using the law for their own means. Bending them and breaking them—"

"Not breaking them to be fair. They weren't planting false evidence, they're playing at being incompetent to get what they want. With a bit of media talk here and there, you got yourself the most obvious crime done by Parian and her redemption into being a hero later on."

Glory Girl let out a harsh breath through her nose and shook her head. "They have all the cards, they get a say in what happens and what doesn't."

"No, not how you think."

"What? You're talking about the other hints he left behind?"

"Yup."

"No idea what he meant?"

"Nope."

"...I still hate all of this. It's so messed up, so corrupted. Aren't we all heroes? Fuck, don't we want the same thing."

"You know how naive you're sounding right? I get it, you're frustrated, disgusted. You feel like you hate everything. I mean that's how I feel most of the time, except with you, you I like. But yeah."

"Fuck me sounding naive, I'm being serious. We're supposed to be heroes! Aren't we supposed to set an example? To be people who can be looked up to?"

"Fucking idealistic of you, I thought I had knocked that silly shit out of your head by now."

"Gumshoe!" Victoria glared vehemently at Lisa. The detective cape sighed at the look and nodded.

"I don't take back anything I said. You're acting pretty stupid. So what if they call themselves heroes, they're all massive fuck ups that got their powers through fucked up situations. Look up at them, please, who in their right mind would want to aspire to be like any hero in this shithole."

"You're being unfair…"

"I'm being a realist, you're just too pig headed to get it. Fuck I'm surprised this whole thing shocked you, what with the type of of mother you have."

"Gumshoe…!" The growling made Lisa put her hands up in surrender.

"Fine, fine. You want me to be serious? Everything Armsmaster said was insanely fucked up, but it isn't incorrect. If it benefits someone, if the ends justifies the means." She shrugged, much to Victoria's chagrin.

"So you're telling me that proving Parian's innocence isn't for the best? Fuck that...right?"

Lisa hummed and turned away from her. "I don't know, I just want to get to the bottom of this case. I don't care very much for the morality of it all."

She made her way towards the gas station, with a thoughtful look on her face.

_What's right and what's correct, huh._


	10. Case File: 1.09

_Case File 1_

_Lethal Trends_

—.—

_December 21, 2010. 01:08 PM, Trainyard, Parian's family's apartment._

"What a fucking asinine, dumb assholish...troll logic!"

"Are you still going on about that?"

"I don't get how you aren't as angry as me!?"

"Just cause."

"But you hate stupidity!"

That made Gumshoe stop right in front of the gas station store doors. She turned towards Victoria and grimaced, showing her teeth, then shook her head and forced a grin.

"I don't hate stupidity to be exact, I just can't help but find myself picking apart whoever is stupid enough to say stupid shit."

"Gumshoe…" Victoria sagged slightly, wincing as her injured shoulder moved further than she intended. She placed a hand on it, soothing it lightly and sighed. She suddenly looked haggard and unsure, looking at her pleadingly. "Please just tell me he's wrong…"

"Why are you letting what he said affect you so much? You never cared that much when he tried to bite our heads off in past investigations."

"Because he's supposed to be a hero. He's a hero that I wanted to be like."

"An asshole?" Lisa couldn't help but poke at that. The flying cape rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"No, _Gumshoe, _firm, steady, reliable, competent? I wanted to be like that."

"You're saying now you don't want to be?"

"I'm saying that if becoming like that means I'll have to sell my soul and become some ruthless hero who only wants results...then I don't want that."

Lisa let a small breath escape her nostrils and looked away from her partner. This was a conversation she didn't want to have right now. They were both tired, hurt and short in patience; well, Lisa was, especially the latter.

Armsmaster and his group of heroes had stolen something from her: they had taken the satisfaction of solving the case. She loved the feeling of rubbing the facts and her smarts over the faces of the heroes, police, lawyers, judges and everyone who even had an inkling of doubt of what she knew was the truth. It was a satisfying reward to receive after days of hard work investigating and solving clues.

But right now she was feeling less than motivated in solving the Parian case. She was innocent and the people with authority knew it; they had all the cards on the table. What was proving her innocence going to do? Well, sure, it was the right thing to do, but she didn't care all that much about that.

The longer she was a cape, the more she got to see how dark the grey side of the law and morality was, and the less she started to care. Maybe once before, she had let herself be convinced by Victoria's genuine and naive desire to do good. But more and more, she cared less for Victoria's vision and more for the girl who for some reason hadn't walked out on her just yet. She appreciated that, she really did, and for that she really should help soothe some of her partner's doubt.

But right now, she wasn't in the mood.

"Then don't be like that." Lisa pushed the door open and stepped inside the store. "Let's find those security videos, see who got inside the apartment and give it to the PRT to handle the rest."

A sharp breath made her turned towards Victoria, who floated right in front of the store doors as they closed behind her.

"You're'... you're giving up on the case."

Lisa winced at the distraught tone and looked away. "I'm not giving up—" _Fucking liar, you're so done with this stupid case._ "I'm just...feeling downtrodden."

"Since when do you say fancy words like that, Gumshoe."

The detective cape sighed. "I'm a smart person, wouldn't it be weird if I didn't speak smart?"

"Lisa…" That made Gumshoe turn towards Victoria, her eyes narrowed.

"What do you want?"

The floating cape blinked, her eyes unsure. "I want justice for Parian."

"Then why the complaining?"

"Because...because what if doing that doesn't give Parian what she deserves? A happy ending?"

"Oh for the love of—!"

"Shut the fuck up and listen! I know what you're going to say, but it's too unfair. Parian's identity got revealed to the world and that's our fault! We can prove her innocence but…fuck! Wait...but who should we prove it…to?"

"There you go...yup, that's the issue right there." Lisa rolled her eyes and walked towards the counter. She leaned forward and saw the security monitors. Her eyes gleamed slightly as she saw the security system just below the monitors. "That's why I don't feel all that enthused with the case anymore. What's the point? Any evidence we bring out is going to get buried anyway."

"That's fucked."

"Tell me about it." Lisa walked around the counter and knelt down to fiddle with the security systems. "This is pretty old, no USB, it isn't connected to any computer. Oh! It's a dvd system. So the disk has to be...here! And look at that, they're dated too. What an organized small gas station we've got here."

The store door opened noisily, the squeaky sounds of sneakers dragged through the floor before they came to a stop. Lisa didn't even look up from her careful consideration of the disk, when a gawking and obnoxious gasp made her eyebrows twitch in annoyance. She looked up and saw a gas station employee, a few years older than her looking at Glory Girl with barely disguised attraction, then his eyes went towards her.

"H-Hey! You can't be there!"

Gumshoe rolled her eyes, and looked back down to the disks. She took out the one she wanted and started fiddling with the DVD player. "Yeah, well I am. Now buzz off, I'm in the middle of an investigation."

"I'll call the PRT here to arrest you!"

"Glory Girl…!" Lisa was not whining, she really wasn't. But she was in no mood to deal with some awkward looking guy who was probably struggling not to look like utter creep while he ogled Victoria. She placed the disk in the dvd, started playing it and focused on one of the monitors as it started playing the recording. "Wait...how old are you?"

"Wha—!?" The guy started but then Lisa dismissed him with a shake of her head.

"Nah forget it, you look like you're in your late twenties or something."

"I'm nineteen!"

_Well shit, I really should take a nap if I can't even get something simple like that, huh. _"Oof, poor guy."

"Gumshoe." Victoria's disapproving face was already being poised against her. Lisa sighed and shrugged. The door opened again and strong, heavy steps thumped forward. Both female capes whirled to look at the entrance with trepidation in their eyes at the thought of a round 2 with Armsmaster. "...Dauntless?"

Lisa let out a small sigh of relief and turned back to the monitor. She looked around for the controller, found it on the floor. She raised a brow at how at how sticky it was, the sugary smell and soda can at the side made her roll her eyes.

"Too bad, I was hoping for another go at the giant asshole in blue."

"Dauntless, that chick shouldn't be there she's—!" The awkward employee was fortunately shushed gently when the Spartan-themed hero placed a hand on his shoulder and lead him towards the entrance of the store.

"No worries, truly. This is a PRT investigation, please vacate the area young man."

"B-But there's nothing—!"

The store door opened, there was more whining before the door closed again and Dauntless approach the two. Glory Girl floated above the cashier counter and glowered at the hero.

"Are you here to tell us to back off?"

Gumshoe snorted, hitting the fast forward button. "Probably here since Armsmaster just noticed that my name isn't just for show."

An amused scoff burst from the man. "No need to worry, I'm not here on behalf of Armsmaster, or anyone for that matter."

"Then, are you here to make sure no other Empire Eighty-Eight thugs escaped?" Gumshoe snorted at Glory Girl's question.

"Yeah, they probably missed them. They lost Hookwolf, right?"

"That was... rather unfortunate, yes. But not why I'm here." Dauntless sighed. "I'm here as a client."

This made the girls stop and look at each other with frowns. Glory Girl turned towards the hero with a raised brow.

"As a client…? What do you mean?"

Dauntless crossed his arms and looked directly at Lisa. "Do you still have the USB used in the last case you were a part of? The one concerning Mush and the highschool girl?"

Something like panic gripped her heart, but Lisa calmed it down and snorted. "That thing? That only had a bunch of videos from the camera feed of the locale, it didn't—!"

"No need to lie. There was a hidden folder mixed with the video you gave as evidence for the case." He turned towards Victoria. "Your mother saw it before the trial day while reviewing the facts and gave a call to the PRT. And we saw a name…one Max Anders."

"The CEO of the Medhall Corporation? What does he have to…!" Victoria trailed off as she looked down with a questioning look.

Gumshoe frowned, confused by where this was going and frustrated that her own private investigation concerning the USB had been leaked by accident. She still hadn't had time to decrypt the data there, only getting very few names from politicians and a whole lot of corrupted data. But what had Max Anders—!?

"Shit, you want me to reopen the old corporation thieving case?"

Victoria snapped her attention towards Lisa in surprise, her eyes widening. "A new lead…?"

Lisa bit her lip. "That was the first case where the evidence we presented was considered to be insufficient to get our client the not guilty verdict."

Glory Girl groaned, shaking her head. "We tried but…"

"Why do you want us to go back and start sniffing on old grounds? I thought it was made absolutely clear that the entire investigation was a sham?"

The older hero started walking around the counter. "I don't know what the higher ups want or are plotting, and as much as I like to play the rising superstar hero card to try and wiggle some information out of the bosses, it doesn't always work. But there's something I have noticed, and that is that our organization has been infiltrated."

"By who?" Victoria floated a little higher to be on top of the counter, watching Dauntless round the corner and walk towards Lisa.

"To many people seems to have their hand on the pie, and it all started back at that first failed case. That was the start of a plot, and no one saw it coming. The PRT has gotten tangled with something and currently it seems that instead of fighting to free itself from this net, it's opted to play the game." The man stopped right behind the kneeling Lisa. "Knowing how blunt Armsmaster can be, especially when he is stressed and annoyed, I bet he already told you what would happen to Parian."

Victoria's expression soured. "Yeah, he was rather clear on that."

"I still say that it isn't a bad deal. She gets quite a lot of benefits and a relatively good life afterwards." Lisa turned back towards the monitor, seeing it continue to fast forward. She frowned when she saw the apartment building catch fire, she quickly paused it and rewound the footage to see the entire event.

Dauntless hummed. "She does get a good deal, but at the cost of bending the law and through dirty means. And if things go on like this, then there's no telling how many other capes will be "offered" this deal after they are accused of a crime."

"Fuck me, don't say that the PRT is stooping to setting up capes to get them in their ranks!?" The vitriol and disgust in Glory Girl's voice was palpable.

Gumshoe shook her head, stopping the video and looking up. "No, they wouldn't do something like that. Too obvious, and it can be traced. But playing the incompetent card is much easier, though, and not quite as risky for them."

Dauntless knelt down beside Gumshoe, looked at her, and then at Glory Girl. "I'm a hero, I'm someone who enjoys what he does not for the attention or the money, but because doing what's right is its own reward. In both my lives, I fight for others, I put everything I have to work towards that goal. I won't lie and say that I don't enjoy some of the luxuries, but I have responsibilities. And I cannot live with myself if I let the PRT, something I know that has the potential to help this world of ours survive these trying times, become so corrupted and fall apart."

"Wait—!" Victoria frowned. "This isn't limited to just Brockton Bay?"

The man grabbed the controller from Lisa's grasp, fast forwarding the footage and stopping it quickly. "Unfortunately, there has been talk of the Boston branch being pressured...could you take a look at the screen?"

The girls blinked and looked at the monitor, Glory Girl floating low, her head beside her partner. The video was pixelated and bright due to the fire, but the multitudes of people out of the building and looking up were clear. As were the actions on the side of the building near the alleyway. Lisa frowned as she watched a dark figure amongst the flames. It enveloped the figure like a cape as it pried open the window of Parian's family apartment. Gumshoe leaned forward, taking in every detail from the pixelated figure. Her eyes widened and she backed away.

"Circus? What's she doing out of prison?" Victoria snapped her head towards her and then looked at Dauntless.

"You knew?"

The hero looked at the two of them and searched for something in his suit belt. "By sheer chance and barely at that, but yeah, I knew."

Lisa bit her lip, nodding as curiosity filled. Eyes shining with excitement, a grin tugged her mouth up. "This should be good."

"I know someone is playing a game here, but I'm not sure what. And I can't do anything about it since I'm not a player here. But I need to find a way to butt in and put my own chips on the table." Dauntless pulled out a card and nodded to himself. "But for that I need for the two of you to find a connection between the old case and the USB."

Victoria looked up and shook her head. "What about Parian? We can't just leave this case like this and take another one."

"Unfortunately you two will have to do it. I don't like this, but I can say that whatever evidence you bring will be unfortunately buried or "misplaced". Your best bet is finding what's really going on behind the scenes in order to make an impact." He handed the card towards Gumshoe. "Here, I'm giving you a number you can use to contact me. When you find the connection between the cases, set up a meeting place and name your price...if you accept the job I'm offering, that is."

Lisa was quick to look up at Glory Girl. "I say we go for it, I'm rather curious about all the mystery surrounding the PRT lately."

Victoria sighed. "I don't like leaving Parian hanging, but if we can help her and get justice for anyone who was wrongfully convicted, then I can't disagree."

Gumshoe grinned, looking at Dauntless and taking the card. "We'll look into it."

* * *

**December 21, 2010. 8:17 PM**

**Gumshoe Case Report: Lethal Trends **

I didn't have time to think of a more catching name for this clusterfuck of a case, but it kinda fits. With Parian powers, the dumb and dumber duo and the PR assholes in the PRT. Usually day one of a case would be rounding up all the facts of the case for review if I'm feeling like I'm missing something but today's case can go fuck itself.

A murder by a giant rabbit, with one of Parian's toys right there if you round the corner. It was obvious that it was set up, even a toddler could see it. It was starting to actually genuinely worried me that the PRT had started to lose brain cells if they couldn't identify the trap. But it seemed I hadn't given them enough credit with how sneaky and devious they could be. Especially with them being embroiled in some plot that I'll have to resolve tomorrow.

That's a positive, new fucking mystery. And Dauntless isn't just for show too, he's kinda nice and smart, so that's another positive.

Negatives are more of a pain in the ass though. Couldn't resolve shit, Parian was innocent and I knew it, but so did the PRT and that was a mood killer. Fighting the E88 was a major hassle and Alabaster is an asshole.

It was cool that you threw that car at him, hear that Glory Throws? I can praise you to!

But fuck it, I'm done for the day! I want to sleep because I can feel the headache slamming against me.

Case Fail.

* * *

**December 21, 2010. 9:12 PM**

**Glory Girl Case Report: Lethal Trends (meh you've come up with worse)**

This case isn't done yet Gumshoe! We'll come back to this and finish it!

And thanks, I was getting tired of dealing with nazi thugs. Alabaster could take it anyway, asshole had it coming.

Also I'll be staying with you tomorrow, yeah? Thanks!

* * *

**December 21, 2010. 11:34 PM**

**Gumshoe Case Report: Lethal Trends **

Case Inconclusive

Whatever, let me sleep


	11. Case File: 2.01

Case File: Shadowy Trail

Brian rolled his shoulders, feeling the burning sensation from his nightly workout regimen. He breathed deep, the cool night air filling his lungs. Exhaling, he felt a little refreshed as the worked out muscles relaxed a little. He raised his hand to scratch his head and cringed as the odor beneath his armpits assaulted his nostrils.

_ I overdid it...fuck, I just can’t let Lisa ever get the better of me again like that.  _ The past few days had been low in activity and he had tried to keep himself occupied, training and making sure to prepare for the next job his employer would have. For now though, all he wanted was to shower and sleep. His phone vibrated, snapping him back into attention and he pulled it out, watching the screen burn bright with a notification.

“Tomorrow’s the Parian trial, hmm.” He tapped it, enter the screen lock password and skimmed over the information given. “Way too soon for a trial though…”

He passed by an alleyway, pitch black, almost like an abyss. Brian didn’t pay it any mind, but the sound of a can being kicked had him whirling around with his shadowy smoke generating from his hands. He was too slow to react, however, and a sledgehammer crashed against his stomach, knocking the wind out of his lungs. Collapsing onto his knees, the vile feeling of acidic hot liquid regurgitating up his throat had him puking out his earlier afternoon meal all over the sidewalk.

He didn’t even notice when his head smacked the ground beneath him, the wet splash sticky against his face. He couldn’t breathe, he was gasping desperately, trying to get air back into his lungs. Something sharp planted itself on his back, grinding against him.

“That was much easier,” a voice said. “Now to call your sister.”

“...!” Something desperate and hot snapped within him. Everything turned into utter darkness as he generated his power around the entire area, pushing it out with a great deal of force. He expected his actions to have caught his attacker off guard, but the grinding in his back turned into a strong stomp that had him gasping once more.

“Hmm, so we’re doing this the hard way then. Fine, just don’t complain too much.”

Brian tried to turn his head to look at his attacker, but his eyes could only focus on the barrel of the gun aiming straight at him.

The gunshot was the last thing he heard before his vision turned black.

  
  
  


Case File 2

Shadowy Trail

—.—

_ December 23, 2010.10:02 AM, Downtown, Lisa’s apartment. _

  
  


“...and with that concludes the trial of Sabah Al-Kindi, also known as the cape fashion designer Parian, charged with the crime of manslaughter. After much investigation from the PRT and the efforts from Armsmaster it was revealed that the murder was not premeditated.”

“After the effort of the PRT and Armsmaster my ass! Those fucks didn’t do anything,” Victoria growled, her hold over the pillow in her hands tightening as she glared at the plasma TV in the messy living room.

“If you rip another pillow Victoria I swear to god…”

“Sorry, sorry…” The platinum blonde relented over her tense grip and continued watching the news broadcast.

“...defense attorney Carol Dallon managed to get a plea deal for Sabah Kattan, sentencing the cape into community service alongside the PRT’s vigilant eyes…”

Victoria sighed, leaning back on the sofa and hitting the mute button on the controller. “Goddamnit, Parian...I’m sorry.”

Lisa sighed and looked up from the kitchen counter, stopping her typing on the laptop to regard her distraught roommate. “Stop feeling so down Glory Mutes, we’ll get down to what’s really going on. Just need to see what the fuck the Steal the Bay case has to do with anything.”

“I know, I know...we just have to see what was it we missed the last time. But I still can’t help but feel like complete shit…fuck we completely failed in doing anything at all. We were cornered from the beginning and we only ended up making things worse for Parian’s family and her too. Damn it, we really screwed up.”

“Didn’t I already say that you should stop smacking yourself with all that self deprecating stuff? Just relax, we’ll find the truth and fix all of this. Then we can rub it all over Armsmaster’s stupid face. I can’t wait to get him to flip out. You think he will rip that beard of his off?”

“I can’t deny I wouldn’t enjoy the sight, better than dealing with mom for now. She’s pretty pissed…”

“Understatement of the century.”

“Hrm, but you haven’t found anything? Really? I would’ve thought that you’d be mapping everything from top to bottom.”

“Humph, I’ve found plenty actually. And I’m mapping it—!”

“Weird that you haven’t covered the entire living room in strings and photos like a lunatic.”

“Something I haven’t done because it’s for lunatics yes.”

“Or because you don’t have anymore strings around and haven’t gone out to buy anything.”

“Anyways! I’ve mapped a few of my findings from the old reports that we’ve made and old news articles, I can definitely say that there’s a lot to unpack here.”

Victoria floated from the couch towards the counter and sat on top of it with her legs crossed. “Okay, hit me with it.”

“Well first, the Steal the Bay case was a massive burglary ring that had been happening months before I even entered the scene. It was an operation that was agreed by the jury to have been spearheaded by Circus, with a few thugs in her employment, and there were reports of Uber and Leet being involved in at least one with the robbery on the Dockworkers Association. The final burglary that finally put the entire ring on the map was the one against Medhall Corporation.”

Victoria nodded, tapping her chin. “Stealing the formula for a new drug that was in development. Max Anders got pretty pissed off and was raging about how the drug being produced was going to cure the chemical imbalance in brains that causes people to get depressed...that would’ve been a big help with dad.”

“Yeah no, I call bullshit on that, especially after what Circus said later on about the Empire Eighty-Eight having ties with the pharmaceutical corporation. It was a massive kick in the balls for them. Anyways, we got involved two days later after Circus had been caught and she said something pretty interesting.”

“She wasn’t in Brockton Bay on the night of the robbery.”

“Yep, she was in Boston. No crimes committed on the day when she travelled there could be tied to her. Two muggings, one carjacking and one murder, but the guy was caught drugged out his mind on the sidewalk. Still they managed to tie her to the burglary by claiming that she had used one of her hired thugs as a diversion, especially when they discovered most of those guys were actually present during the robbery.”

“So then, that’s how the entire thing started, but how does this connect with the Parian case?”

“Aside from Circus being present in both crimes? There’s a couple of things, like the entire setting Parian up being one big diversion for another burglary around town.”

“Nothing like that happened though, which knocks that option out.”

“Not really, since if what was stolen was something secretive, then the public wouldn’t know. We gotta keep our eyes open for any other movement the PRT or any of the authorities make just in case.”

“Second scenario your power came up with?”

Lisa hummed. “Trying to catch our attention.”

Victoria opened her mouth to respond but Lisa’s cape phone rang. The two girls looked back at the couch. Lisa stood up from the kitchen counter and made her way towards the ringing phone. She looked at the screen and frowned, seeing the name “Brian” flaring. Accepting the call she put it on her ear and hummed.

“Brian, what’s up?”

“Is this that detective dick cape? Because fuck me if it isn’t…”

_ Female voice, harsh, scanthing, insulting, worried— _

Lisa frowned. “What happened to Brian?”

There was some muffled voices and beeping from the other line. “Whoa, you managed to deduce that big bro was in trouble just from me being cunty? I guess I should take what they say about you seriously…”

“Aisha?” Lisa hummed, pacing through her living room and grabbing a notepad. “Focus girl, what happened to lean, mean and insecure?”

“Funny. He got mugged.” 

Reaching Victoria she gestured for a pen, got it and wrote on it ‘search for any report of muggings in the last 24 hours’. Lisa focused on the call.

“How bad was it?”

“I don’t know how it happened aside from he got a few broken ribs, a punctured lung and a bullet that somehow managed to miss all of his organs.” There was a muffled curse, then the sound of beeping and talking became distant. “Cunty nurses are cunty. Anyway, bro got his ass almost killed and I think it was a cape since bro wouldn’t let some random guy get him. Especially when he can smoke.”

“And what gave you this idea?”

“The villainous phone call that was saying to call you, duh. Especially when the freaking thing appeared on my pocket when I was looking for some snacks. Me thinks big bad mugger didn’t think all that far ahead because the phone was taken by the pigs, you know?”

Lisa rolled her eyes. “Anything else?”

“Nope, just to call you and hand you the phone.”

“Fine, I’ll go to you then. You’re in Central Hospital right?”

“Yup.” Aisha popped the ‘P’ and Lisa rolled her shoulders.

“Fine, see you soon.” She hung up and turned towards Victoria. “So?”

Her partner looked up, the pen between her fingers and typing on the laptop with her free hand. “Yeah, there was a single mugging in Downtown yesterday at ten. There was a report of a single gunshot, authorities came in like half an hour later. Never made it to the news because the Parian case was taking precedence. Was on the small section of the morning newspaper columns. There’s that.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have stopped reading the paper.”

“Says here that it was a Brian Laborn, wait, isn’t he your gym buddy?”

“Yup.”  _ And also Grue, but you don’t need to know honey.  _ “Now I want revenge. Get suited up, we’re going to see what the hell is going on.”


	12. Case File 2.02

Case File 2

Shadowy Trail

—.—

_ December 23, 2010.10:24 AM, Downtown, Brockton Bay Central Hospital. _

  
  


Gumshoe looked at the hospital building, dark grey with discoloring on the edges and higher floors. Graffiti marks were present on the lower floors; some thug probably thought it would be a funny idea to start dirtying the place up. Dozens of cars filled the entire parking space to the brim.  _ I never liked going to hospitals. Too much time wasted on parking and waiting.  _ Gumshoe sighed and walked towards the entrance, pushing the doors open and stopping.

The Brockton Bay Central Hospital was bustling, as it typically was . Patients coming with a few scrapes or injuries from the misdeeds of the resident gangs were common. It was an unfortunate thing to become accustomed to, but it was what any resident of the Bay had to forge themselves to expect. The fight at Parian’s apartment building was an example of how bad capes could get and escalate.

Victoria hummed, looking around. “So do you know this, uh, Aisha was it?”

_ Playing dumb, trying to coax information, knows there’s a connection between Aisha and self, suspicious of relationship  _

_ Curious about Brian, curious about relationship, suspicious of Brian, thinks he’s a cape _

“Yup.” Lisa started to push through the lobby and looked for where the girl could be. “Brian mentioned her once or twice in our practice.”

“I thought you said he was pretty uptight with his private life?”

“He is, thing is that I’m a detective too. So I managed to deduce some things and may or may not have been spying here and there.”

“Gumshoe…”

“Sorry mom, I promise I’ll behave.” Lisa made sure to sound as flippant as possible. Pushing past an elderly man carefully she looked back at Victoria with a deadpan look. “Are you proud ma’?”

“Hell no, you little brat, not with how snotty you act.”

“Snotty!?” The indignation shocked the detective cape, making Victoria chuckle at her expense. 

“I call them as I see them.”

“You two sure are having fun.” Lisa stopped at the familiar voice coming from behind and turned to look at Aisha. The dark skinned girl was showing far too much skin considering how cold it was outside and how the hospital walls were even colder. She cocked her hips, hands in the pockets of her ripped jean shorts-shorts and pushed out her chest. She sent a jeering smirk at the offended middle age couple looking at her with disgust. Lisa’s face was mostly neutral as her eyes took in the girl’s form.

_ Projecting bravado, legs are shifting weight from one to the other, nervous, tense, afraid _

_ The mugging rattled her, the phone appearing in her position shook her, not trustful, shifting closer to Glory Girl for protection _

_ Worried that culprit may still be nearby, worried for Brian, worried that culprit will finish the job _

_ Wants to hurry, but wants to remain calm, confident, aloof _

Victoria blinked, tilting her head. “Huh…?”

Brian’s sister snorted, arms crossed. “Aisha’s the name, and close your mouth. It actually makes it look like a glory hole.” 

“Fucking rude and unoriginal.” Glory Girl sniffed, rolling her eyes as she regarded Aisha with annoyance. Gumshoe hummed and stepped closer to the younger girl.

“Got a place that isn’t as annoying as a hospital lobby?”

Aisha looked at the two and shrugged.

—.—

“How’d you find us so fast? Were you waiting?” Glory Girl asked as she leaned against the wall of the hallway. Gumshoe craned her head to look at the patient room where Brian was currently resting in.

“Not that hard to find two costumed girls entering a hospital. And people here aren’t stupid enough to start playing dress up.” Aisha scratched the back of her head and groaned. “Though I did go down to the lobby just in case, thank god you two don’t waste time.”

Gumshoe nodded, looking at Aisha as the girl forced a smirk. Lisa’s shoulders sagged and she rolled her neck. She would have to ask her a simple question in order to get the mood for questioning going.

“How is he?”

Aisha smirked. “What, worried? Didn’t know my bro actually had the balls to get himself The Man as a girlfriend.”

Victoria hummed and smirked at her. “I thought you had said that there wasn’t anything between the two of you...or is the illustrious Gumshoe lying?”

“Shut it,” Lisa huffed, taking off her fedora and scratching the back of her head. “As if I would ever get it on with that piece of cardboard. Guy is more flighty than a leaf on a storm and more insecure than you, Glory Hole.”

The white costumed cape eyes twitched, smirk turning into a frown. “Insecure?”

Aisha rubbed her chin. “Hey Dick, you know who my bro is right?”

_ Knows identity, Brian told her, can’t keep secret from sister, told her in retaliation from past actions _

_ Aisha suspects me, thinks I set Brian up, hero cape vs villain cape, wants to insult you _

_ Thinks you’re a cunt, wants to scream your identity, compromise you, angry, revenge, blaming you _

_ Will look for answers, will use own resources, will be in danger, Empire 88 still at large and angry  _

_ Black person asking the wrong questions, wrong people, danger _

_ Looking for honesty, wants truth, wants ally, lonely, frustrated _

Gumshoe blinked, focusing back on Aisha and nodded. “I do.”

Aisha scoffed and looked at the door of the room where her brother was in. “He threw you down two floors though.”

Gumshoe didn’t need to turn and look to know that Victoria froze as the gears in her head turned and her suspicion took form. She very clearly avoided the deathly glare sent her way by Glory Girl and continued her conversation with Aisha. With a thoughtless shrug she smirked.

“ _ I  _ threw him down through the second floor. I was in a hurry and he was way too busy posturing and trying to show off his pecs. You know how he is.” 

The trashy girl looked at her with a raised brow, crossing her arms and expression relaxing into a mocking one. “Yeah, bro can be pretty uptight.”

_ Still feels animosity, doesn’t trust me fully, doubts, consideration  _

_ Appreciates sarcasm, flippant attitude, calming nerves, getting on her level _

“I’m actually surprised he kept my number after the whole thing to be honest. He was pretty frustrated with me. Wouldn’t shut up about me needing to listen to him and give him what he wanted. Then he wanted to play in the dark, I had to make a little bit of light, so I used his big, strong, lean, muscled—”

Victoria coughed. “For someone who says she isn’t into the guy, you sure are giving him big descriptors.”

“Please, I’m just stating facts. You would be the one salivating at his chiseled body. I would be having too much fun poking fun at him for having said body.”

“Don’t make me sound like a drooling animal.”

“With how much you liked to talk about your boyfriend, I should compare you to a humping dog in heat.”

“Fucking why?”

“Because that reaction is worth it, Glory Humps.”

“Fine, you don’t give me the impression of someone who would order a hit or attack my brother.” Aisha sighed, shaking her head and uncrossing her arms. She looked at the two capes with a more serious look. “This wasn’t a normal fucking mugging, no way.”

Glory Girl nodded. “I agree, especially if he is who I think he is, right Gumshoe?”

Lisa again ignored the glare and grinded words. “He was specifically chosen then. How about you tell us everything that happened from your point of view.”

Aisha nodded, pursing her lips and looking down in concentration. “I was out yesterday night, staying with a mother who likes needles and has shit taste for men kinda makes being so late into the fucking night look like a good. Great thing is that I don’t have to worry about curfew! And I’m not complaining . Anyways I was kinda hanging out with some guys, fucking around.”

  
  


Victoria frowned. “Fucking around…?”

Aisha rolled her eyes. “Yeah with some guys and not fucking around as in fucking around. Just messing around, though not like that either, fuck...just hanging out.”

Gumshoe nodded. “Any names for these guys you were just hanging out?”

_ Lying, not for Brian, for self, hiding true motive _

_ Personal, doesn’t want Brian to know, doesn’t want us to know, familial issues _

_ Frustrated, angry, at mother, issues with drugs, resentment for that, abusive men _

_ Angry at us, doesn’t want to talk, not about mother, men, drugs, abuse _

_ Doesn’t have anything to do with current case, mostly, culprit may have been aware of Aisha’s movement _

“Is it important?”

“No it isn’t and it doesn’t matter. What does matter is how you knew what happened to your brother. You don’t seem like the type of girl to have the patience for reading newspapers and what happened to Brian was more of an afterthought than anything. An event that is so forgettable that no one would care.”

Aisha nose crinkled. “Yeah, city sucks like that doesn’t it. People don’t give a shit about you at fucking all...fuck, whatever. I got a call that night telling me to come to the hospital and to call you with Brian’s phone. I obviously turned and ran for the hospital. But...stuff kept happening and fucking me over! I got a cop following me, I don’t even fucking know why, probably because I was way off curfew. When I finally managed to get here, I had to wait in the fucking lobby to ask for my brother and that took forever. I tried sneaking in and almost got caught and had to wait in the fucking line again, and when I finally got to know how Brian was he was already out of surgery and asleep. Then I remembered I had to call you but I didn’t have his phone and I didnt know where to ask. Fucking everything almost had me wanting to punch someone, and when I went to sit down and catch my breath, I jumped because Brian’s phone was in my back pocket!”

"Is it possible someone managed to sneak the phone into your pocket?” Victoria leaned forward, trying to get to Aisha’s level and make her feel comfortable.

The girl snorted and shook her head. “For sure, freaked me out. I don’t like people sneaking up on me and I've learned my lesson on the streets.”

Gumshoe hummed, rubbing her chin. “What about the voice that called you? Anything distinctive you can tell? Female male? Old, young? American or foreign accent?”

“It was definitely male, and American,” Aisha confirmed with a shrug. Victoria pulled on her blonde hair and looked at her partner.

“You think it could be the Empire Eighty-Eight guys?”

Lisa bit her thumb, eyes half-lidded.  _ The entire mugging was premeditated, if they called Aisha and told her to inform me then it must be some challenge or something. Hmm. But could it be the Empire Eighty-Eight? Brian isn’t dead and those asshats are tense as all hell…time to let my power connect the dots for me here. _

_ Brian attacked, aware of relationship, left alive, attack to get attention, motive was me _

_ Empire 88 attacked, revenge for fight, aware of relationship, aware of identity, sold, betrayed  _

_ Victoria, hates you, gave up on Parian, gave up on you, wants to hur— _

_ Empire 88 attacked, revenge, planned, Brian sold identity, revenge for last fight, Aisha in on it, trap— _

_ Third party, attacked, trying to get my attention, aware of identities, playing a game _

_ Part of a plot, cape, attack to overwhelming, to precise  _

Gumshoe grinned and shook her head. “I don’t think so, but considering how things are? There’s a chance that’s the case anyway.”

Victoria nodded, Aisha sighed and scratched the back of her neck with a grimace.

“So how much for you to find the guy? I mean I’ll go after them anyway but I don’t feel comfortable leaving my brother alone with some sneaky fucker who touched my butt.”

Glory Girl cringed at the wording. “That’s...even worse when you put it like that.”

“Don’t worry about payment for now.” Gumshoe waved her off and started heading out. Victoria grunted in surprise and went after her. Lisa stopped midstepped and turned towards Aisha. “Oh yeah, I guess you could an advancement with this.”

Aisha perked up with a raised brow. “Hmm?”

Lisa grinned. “Tell Brian that we’re even and that he better start getting ready, because he’ll owe me now.”

With that the two walked away, leaving Aisha with both her words and reassurance. Turning the corner they headed towards the elevators. Victoria turned towards her.

“Always need to have the last word don’t you.”

“It’s how I roll.”

“And how you hide stuff too. Why didn’t you tell me who Brian was!?”

“Keep it down,” Lisa shushed, hitting the elevator button and looking up at the screen showing which floor it was on. “And I didn’t say anything because it would be disrespectful.”

“Since when do you care about respect?”

“Fine, since it would be a dick move revealing his identity.”

“You’ve made it your literal job to reveal the secrets of others. Especially those who have wronged you, and do I need to remind you that we’ve gotten into fights with them on more than one occasion?”

“I wouldn’t hold a grudge for something as small as a fight.”

The doors opened and the two capes entered into the elevator. Victoria made a weird face. “You ruined a woman’s entire career because she bumped into you without apologizing—!”

“She made me drop my coffee!”

“You ruined her standing on her job, revealed she was having an affair and that her son was from another man! All because of a fucking coffee!? And you didn’t tell me about Brian? Why?”

Lisa groaned as the elevator doors opened and she stepped out. She looked at Victoria’s somewhat hurt expression, and Lisa couldn’t stop herself from cringing. Keeping secrets was something she was good at, but she didn’t think it would hurt Victoria this much. Pulling in her hair slightly she sighed.

“I don’t know why...I guess it would make me feel like shit, okay?”

Victoria nodded. “Yeah, it just caught me off guard, sorry. It’s just...well, you know that if you had told me I would’ve kept it a secret. I get how important secret identities are, trust me on that.”

“Hrm…”

The two stood there in awkward silence, looking down at the floor at the crowd of patience around. Some were gawking or pointing at Glory Girl, who sent a small wave at them. She then sighed and walked towards Gumshoe, standing shoulder to shoulder with her and looked at her with a raised brow.

“So where off to now? The police station? This is a civilian assault case perpetrated by a civilian as far as anyone knows.”

Lisa eyes focused on her and she scoffed, smirking slightly. “Let’s get going before this thing gets complicated. Let’s just hope you can put a nice smile and pull those daughter of a lawyer privileges to see the report and whatever evidence they managed to get.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


  
  
  
  
  



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